Will You Lie In Willow's Way?
by Viole Jyu Grace
Summary: At the tender age of 6, Percy Jackson loses his sanity, creating an alter ego that kills his step-father after watching him beat his mother in a drunken state: Willow. Unable to remember what he did, Sally tells Percy that Gabe decided to leave them and buries him somewhere. 6 years later, when Mrs. Dodds attacks Percy, Willow awakens once more, with a strange power...
1. Chapter 1: I am Willow

**Summary: At the tender age of 6, Percy Jackson loses his sanity, creating an alter ego that kills his step-father after watching him beat his mother in a drunken state: Willow. Unable to remember what he did, Sally tells Percy that Gabe decided to leave them and buries him somewhere. 6 years later, when Miss Dodds attacks Percy, Willow awakens once more, with a strange power...**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Story is Rated M for language and future lemons**

 **AN: Not too sure on the pairing just yet. I should mention that Percy is NOT the son of Poseidon in this fic, but it will be revealed who his father is in time, and Percy's connection to Poseidon**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: I am...Willow**

Fear.

That's what Perseus Orion Jackson- also known as Percy- felt as his mother hid him in a cupboard. Percy had heard the door open, and heard Smelly Gabe's voice, but it was different than normal. It sounded slurred and angry. He didn't know why, but his mother was in a panic. She quickly hid him in a cupboard, whispering to him to stay hidden, before she closed it quietly and quickly got up, working around the kitchen. Percy opened the cupboard just a crack to see what was happening.

"Where's the brat?" Gabe's slurred voice came as he entered the kitchen.

"Sleeping," Sally replied quickly. "I told him that he should go to bed an hour ago, and I checked on him a few minutes later to see he was sleeping."

Gabe nodded slowly, but his eyes were on Sally. "Strip," he told her.

Sally's eyes widened, and she spoke in a soothing voice. "Your drunk, wouldn't you rather wait unti-"

She was smacked across the face and fell to the floor, Gabe growling at her. "Don't you talk back to me! Strip! Right now!"

"B-but Ga-" she tried to talk, only to be hit in the stomach hard, making her scream.

"I SAID DON'T YOU TALK BACK TO ME!" he roared at her as he crouched down and began to beat Sally without mercy, his desires for her body now long forgotten as he was consumed with rage at her denying him.

All this, Percy saw from the Cupboard, his eyes wide and filled with tears. How dare Gabe do this to his mother?! She was so kind, so nice to Gabe despite his absolute crap personality! But then he saw something that made him snap. He saw tears at the corners of his mother's eyes.

It was at that time, that young Percy's sanity broke. His young mind did what it did best: it used his imagination to an extreme. Cold, amber eyes replaced Percy's sea green, a strange glint in his eyes that couldn't be described. He slowly opened the cupboard and got out, staring at Gabe.

Gabe turned to him and sneered. "So Sally lied to me? You've seen too much kid." He grabbed a knife, smirking darkly. "I guess you'll just have to die now."

The small boy tilted his head at Gabe, his Amber eyes showing absolutely no emotion, except that small, unknown glint. When he spoke, it was a cold voice, no emotion to it. _"Will you lie in Willow's Way?"_

Only slightly unnerved,`Gabe ran at the boy, wildly swinging the knife. The boy merely laughed, his voice without emotion, and darkness covered the room. Gabe stopped running, looking around. "Where are you, you little bastard?!"

The laughter continued, now coming from Gabe's left. He turned, but now it was behind him. He turned again, but now it was to his right. The laughter grew louder and louder, before it stopped. The boy's voice came again. _"Do you love?"_ It came from all around Gabe, in multiple directions.

"Wha-" Gabe tried to speak, but was cut off.

 _"Do you hate?"_

"Where are you, you little bastard?!" Gabe raored in anger.

 _"Do you die, forever late, in Willow's Way?"_

Gabe's eyes widened. "Wha-?"

 _"WAHAHAHAHA!"_ The laughter came from behind him, but before Gabe could even turn or talk, the voice spoke softly. _"I didn't think so."_

The drunk man turned, only to feel something plunge into his throat. The last thing the step-father of Percy Jackson saw before he died was a pair of cold, amber eyes, the psychotic glint in them clear.

When the darkness faded away and the room came back into view, the boy stood over Gabe's body, a knife in the man's throat, his eyes glossed over and dead.

Sally looked at her son. "P-Percy?"

Slowly, the boy turned towards Sally and shook his head. _"No..."_ he spoke softly. _"Not Percy..."_

"Who are you?" Sally asked him quietly. He looked just like Percy, but his cold voice and amber eyes made her think twice...she was scared of the boy, but at the same time she cared for him.

The boy stopped, and tilted his head, thinking. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he spoke. _"I am...Willow."_

"Are you my son?" she asked him again.

The now named Willow stared at her and nodded slowly. _"I am...your son."_ Amber bled into green as Percy collapsed on the ground.

Sally acted quickly, picking up her son and taking him to his room. She tucked him in before heading to the kitchen and looking at the now dead Gabe. She hesitated before taking the knife out of his throat and cleaning it off, and then pushing his body into a large black bag. She had to dispose of the body, remove traces Gabe had ever been here. She'd just tell Percy that Gabe decided to leave...

* * *

 **(6 years later...)**

Percy sighed in annoyance. He didn't want to be on this trip, he really, REALLY didn't want to be on this trip. Things always went wrong when he went on trips, one way or another. This one he was very determined to be good.

He was on probation right now due to a few incidents during the school, so he was forced to watch as Nancy Bobofit- an annoying girl and a bully- threw peanut-butter and ketchup sandwiches at the head of his best friend at school, Grover Underwood.

Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny. He cried when he got frustrated. He had to have been held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled. He had a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walked funny, like every step hurt him, but damn could he run on on enchilada day in the cafeteria.

"I'm going to kill her," Percy all but snarled.

"It's fine," Grover tried to tell him. "I like peanut butter." He quickly dodged another piece of her lunch.

"Please, just one punch?" he begged Grover. "I'm totally cool with getting expelled. Just PLEASE let me hit her once?"

Grover shook his head. "No way," he told Percy firmly. "I'm not letting you get expelled for this. Just let it go, okay?"

Percy grumbled. He wished he could deck the bitch right then and there, but he wouldn't...he didn't want to get into trouble. With a reluctant sigh, he looked out the window, and waited for the bus to arrive at the museum.

Mr. Brunner led the museum tour. He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding the group through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery.

He gathered the group around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling them how it was a grave marker, a stele, for a girl about Percy's age. He told them about the carvings on the sides. Percy was trying to listen to what he had to say, because he found it interesting, but everybody around him was talking, and every time he told them to shut up, the other teacher chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give Percy the evil eye.

Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art. Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele, and Percy turned around and said, "Will you _shut up_?" It came out just a little bit louder than he'd meant to say it.

Everyone roared with laughter, and Mr. Brunner stopped talking and slowly turned to Percy with a raised eyebrow. "Mr. Jackson," he said. "Did you have a comment?"

Percy- his face completely red- mumbled, "No, sir."

Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?"

Quickly glancing at the carving, Percy wanted to sigh in relief since he recognised it. "That's Kronos eating his kids, right?"

"Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied. "And he did this because ..."

Percy frowned at Mr. Brunner prying for more information, but he didn't really have a choice. "Kronos did this because he was the king of the titans, and he received a prophecy one day stating that one of his children would overthrow him as king. He freaked out, and ate his kids as they were born. Finally, his wife got tired of it and replaced baby Zeus with a rock, and took Zeus to be raised elsewhere. When Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into throwing up his brothers and sisters-"

"Eeew!" said one of the girls behind him, who he promptly ignored.

"-and then there was a big fight between the titans and the gods, though some titans who were tired of Kronos joined the gods," Percy continued, "and the gods won."

Some people snickered. At the back, Nancy mumbled to a friend, "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids.'"

"And why, Mr. Jackson," Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"

"Busted," Grover muttered.

"Shut up," Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair.

Percy hummed in thought at the question. "Well," he began, "Greek culture still has a huge affect on the modern day. A lot of our buildings are built from what the people learned in Ancient Greece. Some people like Greek styled buildings, so if you're aiming to be an architect, it's important to know about the structure of Greek buildings. Or if you want to be a historian, it's important to know all the myths about Greece."

Percy thought his answer was pretty good, so he was surprised when Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "I see," he said. "Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?

The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like morons.

Grover and Percy were about to follow, when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson."

The black haired boy sighed, as he'd seen it coming. He quickly told Grover to go on ahead, before he turned towards the man in the wheelchair. "Mr. Brunner?"

Mr. Brunner had a look that wouldn't let Percy go- intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything. "You must learn the answer to my question," Mr. Brunner told him.

"About the Titans?"

"About real life. And how your studies apply to it."

"Oh."

"What you learn from me," he said, "is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson."

Percy _wanted_ to get angry at him. Brunner pushed him way harder than anybody else did. Okay, the guy was _pretty_ awesome on tournament days, when he dressed up in Roman armour and shouted: "What ho!" and challenged everyone, sword point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman person who had ever lived, and their mother, and what god they worshipped. But it was almost like Mr. Brunner expected Percy to be just as good as everyone else, despite his dyslexia and ADHD...and the fact that the highest grade he'd managed to get was a D.

No, Brunner didn't expect him to be _as_ good. He expected him to be _better_. And no matter how hard Percy tried, he just couldn't remember all the names and facts, he just found it too difficult.

He mumbled something about trying harder, before turning away and leaving. He glanced back and saw Mr. Brunner looking at the steele sadly, almost like he had been to the girl's funeral. He told Percy to go outside and eat his lunch.

* * *

The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where they could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue.

Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than Percy had ever seen over the city. He figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York state had been weird since Christmas. There had been massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. Percy wouldn't have been surprised if it was a hurricane about to come blowing in.

Nobody else seemed to notice. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, Mrs. Dodds acted like she didn't see a damn thing.

Percy sat beside Grover on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. They were hoping if they sat there, then nobody would think that they were from Yancy- the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere. It was a stupid hope, but it was a hope nonetheless.

"Detention?" Grover asked.

"Nah," Percy told him. "Never from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off and let me breath sometimes, ya know? I'm not a genius or anything."

Grover didn't say anything for awhile. Percy thought the guy was about to say a deep comment to him, but instead he said, "Can I have your apple?"

Percy nearly sighed. He didn't have much of an appetite at the time, so he gave Grover the apple.

Percy watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about his mother's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where they sat. They hadn't seen each other since Christmas. He wanted to jump in a taxi and head home. They'd hug and she'd be glad to see him, but she'd be disappointed, too. She'd just send him right back to Yancy, remind him that he had to try harder, even if this was his sixth school in six years and he was probably going to be kicked out again. Percy know that he wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give him.

Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized cafe table.

Percy was about to unwrap his sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of him and Grover with her ugly friends- he guessed she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists-and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.

"Oops." She grinned at Percy with her crooked teeth.

Percy tried to keep calm, he really did. The school counsellor had had told him what must have been a million times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper." But he was livid. His mind went blank, and he heard psychotic laughter in his ears along with the roar of a wave.

He couldn't recall touching her, but the next thing Percy could recall, Nancy was sitting in the fountain, screaming loudly, "Percy pushed me!"

Mrs. Dodds almost seemed to appear next to them.

Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see-"

"-the water-"

"-like it grabbed her-"

Percy didn't know what the heck they were talking about. The only thing he knew was that he was in trouble. _Again_.

As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure 'poor little' Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc., etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on Percy. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if he'd finally done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey-"

"I know Mrs. Dodds," Percy sighed. "A month erasing workbooks."

Percy knew that wasn't the right thing to say, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

"Come with me," Mrs. Dodds told him.

"Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. I pushed her."

Percy turned to Grover in genuine shock. He honestly couldn't believe that Grover was trying to cover for him. Grover _feared_ Mrs. Dodds more than anything. When Mrs. Dodds called on him in class, Grover paled so much that Percy sometimes thought that Grover was ready to jump out the window to get away from her.

She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled. "I don't think so, Mr. Underwood," she said.

"But-" he tried, but got cut off.

"You. Will. Stay. Here."

Grover gave Percy a desperate look.

"It's alright Grover," he promised, patting him on the shoulder. "Thanks for trying though."

"Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked. "Now."

Nancy Bobofit smirked.

Percy gave her a dark glare that promises Nancy she wouldn't be getting away with what she'd done. He turned to Mrs. Dodds, but blinked. She wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at him to hurry up.

 _'How did she get there so fast?'_ Percy thought.

He followed Mrs. Dodds.

Halfway up the stairs, he glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between Percy and Mr. Brunner, like he _wanted_ Brunner to notice what was going on, but the Latin teacher was absorbed in his novel.

Percy looked up again, and Mrs. Dodds was now inside the building at the end of the entrance hall. Percy hoped for just a minute that she was going to make him buy Nancy a new shirt.

No such luck.

He followed her deeper into the museum. When he had _finally_ caught up to her, they were back in the Greek and Roman section. Except for the two of them, the entire place was empty.

Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making a weird noise in her throat, as if she were growling.

Even _without_ her growling, Percy was going to be feeling nervous. It was really weird for him to be alone with a teacher, especially if that teacher was Mrs. Dodds. There was something strange about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to destroy it.

"You've been giving us problems, honey," she said.

Percy went with his safest option. He said, "Yes, ma'am."

She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?" The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil.

It unnerved Percy a hell of a lot, but he thought to himself, _'She's a teacher. It's not like she's going to kill me or anything.'_ He spoke aloud, "I-I'll try harder Mrs. Dodds."

Thunder shook the building, and her gaze darkened. "We are not fools, Percy Jackson," Mrs. Dodds hissed. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."

Percy didn't have a clue what she was talking about. He thought that maybe she'd found out about the illegal stash of candy he'd been selling out in his dorm room. Or maybe that his essay on Tom Sawyer was one he found on the internet, meaning he didn't read the book, and now they were gonna take his grade away. Or worse, they were going to make him _read_ the book.

"Well?" she demanded angrily.

"M-ma'am," he stammered. "I don't..."

"Your time is up," she hissed. Then the strange times began. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shrivelled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice Percy to ribbons, and then _eat_ those ribbons for her meal.

Then things got _even_ stranger. Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand. "What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air.

Mrs. Dodds lunged at him. With a yell of fear, Percy dodged and he _felt_ talons slash the air next to his ear. He knew that if he had dodged even a _second_ then he would be dead. He snatched the pen out of the air, only it wasn't a pen anymore. It was the _same_ bronze sword that Mr. Brunner used on tournament day.

Mrs. Dodds spun around, her eyes murderous.

Percy's knees were jelly, and he trembled in fear. His hands shook so hard her nearly dropped the sword.

She snarled, "Die honey!" she lunged at him.

Terror run through Percy, as he couldn't bring himself to move. He screamed in his mind, _'HELP ME!'_

And his cry for help was answered.

In his mind, a voice spoke, _'Take a step back...I will deal with her...'_ The voice was cold and emotionless, but Percy trusted it, and let it do as it wished.

Mrs. Dodds yelped in surprise when the boy she was about to run through stepped to the side, easily avoiding her. She turned and looked at him, before her eyes widened in shock.

Green eyes were now a cold amber, a small glint in them. Opening his mouth, the boy spoke in a cold and emotionless voice. _"Will you lie in Willow's Way?"_

Mrs. Dodds shivered at the voice, before she snarled. "Return what you stole!" she commanded him angrily.

The boy just sighed at her. _"You are a fool..."_ Darkness surrounded them, and Mrs. Dodds couldn't see anything at all.

"Where are you?!" She snarled angrily.

His voice came from behind her, _"Do you love?"_

She turned, and lunged, but she cut through the air.

 _"Do you hate?"_ it came from her left. She lunged again, but once more just cut through the air.

His voice came from all around her, in multiple directions. _"Do you die, forever late, in Willow's Way?"_

"I will slay you!" she roared angrily, trying to find him.

 _"WAHAHAHAHA!"_ the psychotic laughter came from behind her. She turned, but his voice came from behind her again. _"I didn't think so."_

Mrs. Dodds turned again, but she was too slow. The last thing she saw was a glint of bronze, and psychotic amber eyes. She let out a horrible scream as the bronze sword sliced through her chest, and she exploded into gold dust.

The darkness cleared, and Willow stood over the dust, a wicked grin on his face. He looked at the sword, twirling it in his hands. _"A beautiful weapon,"_ he told himself. He looked around and soon found the cap of the pen. He walked over and picked it up. He was about it put it on the tip of the sword, before he stopped and thought about it. He put the cap on the butt of the sword, and it shrunk into a ballpoint pen, but with the cap off. He smirked, and then looked around.

He was alone. No Mr. Brunner. No Mrs. Dodds. Nobody but him.

He took a breath and began to walk before he stumbled. _"So tired..."_ Willow mumbled. _"I suppose that it's best if...Percy has control..."_ Amber shattered into sea green, and Percy looked around in confusion, before looking at the pen in his hands.

He remembered the whole thing. The voice in his mind was...Willow, and it lived inside of his mind. Why? He didn't know. He looked at the pen- no, the bronze sword- and wondered if he could get Mr. Brunner to let him keep it. He suspected that this was only the beginning.

Percy went back outside. It was raining. Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw Percy, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."

He looked at her, "Who?"

"Our teacher, duh!"

Percy blinked. He might have been slow, but he was _pretty_ sure that they didn't have a teacher called Mrs. Kerr. When he asked Nancy what she was talking about, she just rolled her eyes and looked away.

He frowned, then walked to Grover, and asked where Mrs. Dodds was. Of course he _knew_ where Mrs. Dodds was, he'd just vaporized her.

Grover said, "Who?" Percy much have believed him, but he'd paused at first, and he wouldn't look at Percy, so he thought that maybe Grover was messing with him.

"Not funny, man," he told him. "This is serious."

Thunder boomed overhead. Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved.

Percy walked over to him.

He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson."

He hesitated, "Um...if it isn't too much trouble, do you mind if I keep it sir?" he showed the uncapped ballpoint pen, and Mr. Brunner looked a little surprised at it's appearance. "I'm not the best at keeping track of pens, but I promise I won't lose this one!"

Mr. Brunner looked at him with a calculating look. For a minute, he seemed like he'd demand the pen back, but eventually he nodded, "Very well Mr. Jackson."

Percy cleared his throat. "Sir," he said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?"

He stared at Percy blankly. "Who?"

"The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher."

He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right?"

Percy blinked and coughed. "Y-yeah, I'm fine," he told Mr. Brunner. "I just...guess I'm feeling a little dizzy."

Mr. Brunner nodded, "I suggest you go take a seat Percy, we wouldn't want you to hurt yourself."

He just nodded and walked back over to Grover. He thought to himself, _'What the hell did I get involved in...'_

Willow was all too happy to answer his question, _'Who cares. They'd all better hope that they don't lie in Willow's Way. WAHAHAHAHA!'_

Percy Jackson sighed to himself. _'We are_ definitely _going to talk, Willow...'_


	2. Chapter 2: Knitting Fate

**Summary:** **At the tender age of 6, Percy Jackson loses his sanity, creating an alter ego that kills his step-father after watching him beat his mother in a drunken state: Willow. Unable to remember what he did, Sally tells Percy that Gabe decided to leave them and buries him somewhere. 6 years later, when Miss Dodds attacks Percy, Willow awakens once more, with a strange power...**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson & The Olympians. Rated M for swearing and future lemons**

 **AN: Feel free to give me ideas on a pairing. Having thoughts for a possible harem, since those are actually fairly rare in the Percy Jackson community...well, unless they are lemon stories, but I'm not counting those.**

* * *

 **Chapter 2: Knitting Fate**

As soon as everyone arrived back at Yancy academy, they were all sent back to their dorm rooms. Percy bunked with Grover, which is why the two of them were friends. You kind of have to become friends with your dorm mate, or you'll just be miserable.

Once they got back to their dorm, Percy glanced at Grover. "Hey, I'm gonna go get an early night, okay?"

Grover looked at Percy with sympathy, before nodding. "Yeah, I hear you. Sleep well Perce."

Percy just nodded and climbed into bed without changing. He didn't go to sleep, however. Instead, he thought, _'Willow? Are you there?'_

 _'I am,'_ came the voice of Percy's alter ego. _'What is it you require of me, Percy?'_

 _'I have some questions,'_ he told the crazed half of him.

There was silence for a minute, before Willow spoke up, _'Ask away. I shall answer to the very best of my abilities.'_

Percy nodded as he took a minute to decided which question he wanted to ask first. He settled on, _'When exactly did you start to...live inside of my mind?'_

Willow laughed softly, _'Ah...you wish to know of that day. It was 6 years ago.'_

 _'When though?'_ he pressed.

 _'I remember it as if it were yesterday...'_ Willow sighed happily. _'You and mother were speaking in the kitchen, when the door opened and fat fuck Gabe came home. Mother quickly hid you in a cupboard and told you to stay hidden, but you opened the cupboard just a crack. Gabe walked into the kitchen and asked where you were, and mother said she'd put you to bed. Gabe looked at her and told her to strip.'_

 _'What?!'_ Percy yelled at Willow. _'Why don't I remember any of this?'_

 _'If you will let me finish,'_ Willow snapped. _'I'll explain. Mother tried to persuade Gabe not to, but he got angry and hit her. He began to beat her, and it traumatised you to such an extent that it broke your sanity. And as your sanity broke, I was born and took the brunt of it. The easiest way to say this is that you- Percy- are legally insane, you are just the sane half.'_

Percy gulped at that. He didn't want to be insane, but he was grateful Willow was born and was insane instead of him. _'Wh...what happened next?'_

The black haired boy could _feel_ Willow smile. _'Ah yes...I assumed control of our body and stepped out. Gabe grabbed a knife and said he would kill us, and I asked him a question. He tried to hurt us, so I...'_ Willow frowned. _'I honestly do not know how I did what I did...I accessed a...strange power, and with it as my aid, I killed Gabe.'_

Percy's heart stopped for just a second. _'Y...you killed Gabe?'_

Willow's smile returned in full force and he giggled psychotically. _'Yes...I killed him...he hurt our mother...he had to_ suffer _for what he had done...after I killed him, mother said your name. I told her I wasn't you. She asked who I was and I told her that I am Willow. She then asked if I were her son. I told her I was, when finally the stress of the power affected me. It was a strange ability, and it tired me out. You returned to control with no memories of the event, and I fell into a deep slumber...and when the strange creature attacked you, I assumed control again.'_

He nodded slowly, _'I...I see...I'm assuming the power you used is the same one you used against Mrs. Dodds?'_

 _'Yes...'_ Willow confirmed. _'I do not know why or how I am able to use it, I simply am, and I simply know how. I wish I were able to explain it more, but I am unable to.'_

He took a deep breath as he thought about what he'd learned. Smelly Gabe was dead, which meant he'd never come back, and explained why his mom suddenly had a lot more money so they could have a bit of a better life. He had a...split personality? _'No that sounds stupid...'_ Percy thought to himself. _'Alter ego? Yeah, alter ego sounds better.'_

 _'Indeed it does,'_ his psychotic half happily agreed. Split personality sounded really stupid.

Percy ignored Willow and continued his train of thought. He had an alter ego that symbolized he was insane, and also had access to a weird power. _'Could I use this power?'_ Percy questioned.

Willow hummed, _'I see no reason why you_ couldn't _however...I think you would need to learn from scratch. I'm just able to use it, I never learned, I was able to use it as soon as I was born inside of your mind. I don't think I'm able to teach you how to use it either...'_

The sane half tried not to feel disappointed, _'I see...'_

 _'Any other questions?'_

Percy lightly shook his head, _'Not right now...this talk was very...enlightening. I'm sure we'll speak again more in the future.'_

 _'But of course,'_ Willow agreed. _'Right now, however, I think I need to rest, as should you.'_

He didn't speak, instead opting to close his eyes and follow Willow's advice. Percy Jackson drifted into a deep, dreamless sleep.

* * *

For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to believe that Mrs. Dodds never existed.. The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr-a perky blond woman whom Percy had never seen in his life until she got on the bus at the end of the field trip-had been their pre-algebra teacher since Christmas.

Every so often Percy would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if he could trip them up, but they would stare at Percy like he was crazy, which he technically was.

Percy could have believed them. Mrs. Dodds had never existed.

But he knew she did. It was impossible for her not to.

The pieces all fit together no matter where he put them. The first was Mr. Brunner's ballpoint pen. Any time he pulled the cap away, it changed into a bronze sword. And then there was Willow, who had been the one to _kill_ Mrs. Dodds. And then there was Grover.

Poor Grover, he couldn't fool Percy. Whenever Percy mentioned Mrs. Dodds to Grover, he would hesitate, then claim she didn't exist. Grover might have fooled someone who didn't know him, but Percy knew Grover too well, and could tell he was lying.

Percy knew something strange was starting to happen. The incident at the Museum proved it.

He didn't really have much time to think about it, with exams right around the corner, but there were times that visions of Mrs. Dodds with her sharp talons and leathery wings would awaken him in a cold sweat.

The freak weather continued, which didn't help Percy's mood. One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in his dorm room. A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy. One of the current events his class studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year.

He was also starting to feel really cranky and irritable, so much so that Willow had to calm him down as best he could, lest he be forced to take control. His grades slipped from Ds to Fs, and he got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends, although Willow noticed something strange about Nancy. Out the corner of Percy's eyes, he noticed that Nancy seemed to blush sometimes when looking at Percy, and he filed the thought away for later. Percy also got sent out in nearly every single class.

Finally, when his English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked Percy for the millionth time why he was too lazy to study for spelling tests, he snapped. He called him an old sot. He'd wanted to say a lot worse, but Willow hadn't let him, claiming it was his job to yell profanities and not Percy's.

The headmaster sent Percy's mother a letter the following week, making it official: he would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy.

 _'Fine,'_ Percy had told himself. _'I'm glad to get away from this hell hole for good.'_

He wanted to live with his mother in their little apartment on the Upper East Side, even if it meant going to a public school and enduring all the insults that would no doubt be tossed at him there.

Despite that, Percy knew there were things he'd miss at Yancy. The view of the woods outside of his dorm room, the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees. He'd miss Grover too, he'd been a damn good friend to Percy, even if he was just a little strange. Percy was honestly worried about how Grover was going to survive Yancy _without_ him.

Percy would miss Latin class, too- Mr. Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that Percy could do well.

As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test Percy had studied for. He hadn't forgotten what Mr. Brunner had told him about this subject being life-and-death for him. With what happened in the museum, Percy would be a fool not to believe Brunner.

The evening before his final, Percy got so frustrated that he threw the Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology across his dorm room. Words had started swimming off the page, circling in his head, the letters doing one-eighties. There was no way he was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon, or Polydictes and Polydeuces. His dyslexia was just so damn bad, it was a nightmare.

 _'I'll never remember any of this crap!'_ he screamed mentally, clearly frustrated.

Within his mind, Willow sighed. He had expected this, so he was once again going to calm Percy down. Most people would think that- being insane- you wouldn't calm someone down. But the most insane people know that they had to hide it from the world and just tell people the things they _wanted_ to hear.

 _'Calm down, Percy,'_ Willow told his sane half. _'There is no use in getting frustrated about this.'_

 _'I know Willow,_ _'_ Percy replied, still clearly annoyed. _'But still...maybe I should just go ask Brunner for help...'_

Willow hummed, _'That might be for the best.'_

Percy picked his mythology textbook off the floor and took a deep breath. He walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor.

He was three steps from the door handle when he heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said "... worried about Percy, sir."

Percy froze solid. Now, he wasn't normally an eavesdropper, but Grover was talking about him to an adult, how could he _not_ listen in and find out what they were talking about. He inched in closer.

"... alone this summer," Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly One in the school! Now that we know for sure, and they know too-"

"We would only make matters worse by rushing him," Mr. Brunner said. "We need the boy to mature more."

"But he may not have time. The summer solstice dead-line- "

"Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can."

"Sir, he saw her... ."

"His imagination," Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that, though I do hope he doesn't uncap the pen...I still have no clue how he got it to look like that."

 _'Mist?'_ Percy thought. _'What on Earth is that?'_

 _'It sounds like some method of mind control,'_ Willow piped up. _'He said it was over the students and staff...keep listening in.'_

"Sir, I ... I can't fail in my duties again." Grover's voice was choked with emotion. "You know what that would mean."

"You haven't failed, Grover," Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy alive until next fall-"

Percy's textbook slipped out of his fingers and hit the floor with a thud.

Mr. Brunner went silent.

 _'Hide!'_ Willow hissed.

Percy didn't need to be told twice.

His heart hammered against his chest, but he picked up the book and backed down the hall. A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's office door, the shadow of something much taller than my wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archer's bow.

Percy opened the nearest door and slipped inside as quietly as he possibly could.

A few seconds later, slow clop-clop-clop, like muffled wood blocks, was heard, and then a sound like an animal snuffling right outside the door. A large, dark shape paused in front of the glass, then moved on. A bead of sweat trickled down Percy's neck and he stopped himself sighing in relief.

Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke. "Nothing," he murmured. "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice."

"Mine neither," Grover said. "But I could have sworn ..."

"Go back to the dorm," Mr. Brunner told him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow."

"Don't remind me."

The lights went out in Mr. Brunner's office.

Percy waited in the dark for what felt like an eternity. _'What...was that about?'_ he thought. _'Summer solstice deadline? Kindly Ones? Mist? Failing his duties? Keeping me alive until next fall? What the hell is going on?'_

 _'I don't know,'_ Willow's voice came, sounding baffled. _'But you should head back to the dorm quickly, or Grover might get suspicious.'_

There was no denying that. Percy waited a bit longer before finally slipping out into the hallway, and making his way back up to his dorm.

Grover was lying on his bed, studying his Latin exam notes like he'd been there all night.

"Hey," he said, bleary-eyed. "You going to be ready for this test?"

Percy didn't answer. He couldn't bring himself to.

"You look awful." He frowned. "Is everything okay?"

"Just... tired." Percy turned way so his expression couldn't be read, and he started to get ready for bed. He didn't understand what he'd heard downstairs, none of it made any sense. Only one thing was perfectly clear: Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about him behind his back. They thought he was in some kind of danger.

* * *

The next afternoon, as Percy was leaving the three-hour Latin exam, his eyes swimming with all the Greek and Roman names he'd definitely misspelled, Mr. Brunner called him back inside. For a moment, he was worried Brunner had found out about his eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem.

"Percy," he said. "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's ... it's for the best."

His tone was kind, but Percy wanted to punch the man in the face for embarrassing him. Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids that were finishing up the test could still hear. Nancy Bobofit smirked at him and made sarcastic little kissing motions with her lips...although Willow noticed her eyes. They were...sad? He filed away the information for later.

Percy mumbled, "Okay, sir..."

"I mean ..." Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't sure what to say. "This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time."

His eyes stung. Percy honestly felt like crying. Here was his _favourite_ teacher, in front of the class, telling him that he couldn't handle it. After saying he believed in him all year, now he was telling him that he was destined to get kicked out. What a kick in the balls that was.

"Right," Percy said, visibly trembling.

"No, no," Mr. Brunner said. "Oh, confound it all. What I'm trying to say...you're not normal, Percy. That's nothing to be-"

"Thanks," he snapped. "Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me that I'm a weirdo."

Mr. Brunner frowned, "Percy-"

But Percy was long gone. He ran through the halls, hiding his face as he held back tears. Normally he'd run to his dorm room, but today he went somewhere else. He headed to the roof of the school. Nobody was ever there, so it was a place where he could be alone in peace. He stood by the railings, looking down as tears fell from his eyes.

 _'Stupid Brunner...'_ he thought to himself. _'Stupid Nancy...stupid principle...stupid Yancy Academy...stupid everything!'_

 _'Would you like me to take control for a little while?'_ Willow asked him.

Percy shook his head, _'No, knowing you, you might do something I'll regret.'_

Willow's voice came, this time amused, _'Something you'll regret? Why will you regret it?'_

 _'Because you don't have regrets,'_ Percy quipped, something Willow laughed at. However Percy froze when he heard the door open. _Nobody_ came up here! He quickly turned, and blinked in surprise at the sight of the person he last expected to see, "Nancy?"

She smirked at him, "Look at who I found! Not coming back to Nancy next year Jackson?"

Percy scowled, "What's it to you?" he growled at her, in no mood for her shit. "My exams are done Nancy, and I don't have anything stopping me from kicking your ass right here and now."

Nancy blinked in surprise at Percy's aggression, before she sighed. She walked over and stood to his right, looking over the school. "In all honesty, Percy," she said softly. "I really am gonna miss you. You might be a huge dufus and a loser, but you made school interesting. It won't be the same without you here."

He blinked at her words, before snorting, "I thought you'd be glad to see me gone. You did get into fights with me and Grover a lot."

She chuckled, "And that's what made it interesting. There won't be anybody for me to pick on once your gone."

He snorted, "Nice to see you think so highly of me." He didn't know why he was talking to her. Any other time, Percy would have just left, but right now, he just didn't care anymore.

"Mhm..." Nancy continued to stare out at the school, and Percy's gaze shifted as well, looking over the school and town. "Hey Percy?"

He turned his head to her, "Yea-" he was cut off as Nancy's lips pressed against his. Green eyes widened in shock, and Willow was at a loss for words at what was happening. Nancy was... _kissing him_!

Nancy kissed him for damn near five minutes, and Percy had stood there, stunned the entire time. She pulled away, and gave him a small smile, a huge blush spread across her face. "Don't be a stranger Percy," she told him softly, before she turned and left the roof.

Percy watched her go, his eyes still wide. He slowly lifted his hand to his lips. He could still taste her...her lips were warm...and soft...

 _'That...wasn't so bad...'_ Percy thought to himself. Willow didn't speak, but Percy could just tell that his alter ego was in agreement with him.

* * *

On the last day of term, Percy shoved his clothes into his suitcase.

The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month. They were juvenile delinquents, but they were _rich_ juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities. Percy was a nobody, from a family of nobodies.

They asked Percy what he'd be doing this summer and he told them that he was going back to the city. What he _didn't_ tell them was that he'd have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spend his free time worrying about where he'd go to school in the fall.

"Oh," one of the guys said. "That's cool." And then they returned to their conversation as if he'd never existed.

Of course, Percy hadn't really paid attention to them. His thoughts were still on the events that happened on the roof about a week ago. Nancy Bobofit- someone who he considered his worst enemy- had _kissed him_! Why did she do it? What did it mean? And why did she tell him not to be a stranger? It was all so confusing, and Percy just didn't know what to think.

The only person Percy dreaded saying goodbye to was Grover, but as it turned out, he didn't have to. He'd booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as he did, so there they were, together again, heading into the city.

During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. It occurred to Percy that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when they left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen. Before, Percy'd always assumed he was worried about getting teased. But there was nobody to tease him on the Greyhound.

Willow was suspicious as well. Ever since the museum, Grover had been acting stranger than usual. He kept looking around the school and sniffing the air, he fidgeted around a lot more, and then there was the talk with Mr. Brunner. Grover was definitely hiding something...

Finally Percy couldn't stand it anymore. He said, "Looking for Kindly Ones?"

Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. "Wha-what do you mean?"

Percy, against his better judgement, confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr. Brunner the night before the exam.

Grover's eye twitched. "How much did you hear?"

"Oh ... not much. What's the summer solstice dead-line?"

He winced. "Look, Percy ... I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers ..."

"Grover-"

"And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and ..."

"Grover, you're a really, _really_ bad liar," Percy told him bluntly. It was mean, but true.

His ears turned pink. From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. "Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer."

The card was in fancy script, which was murder on Percy's dyslexic eyes, but he finally made out what it said.

 _Grover Underwood_

 _Keeper_

 _Half-Blood Hill_

 _Long Island, New York_

 _(800) 009-0009_

"What's Half-"

"Don't say it aloud!" he yelped. "That's my, um,..summer address."

Percy felt his heart sink. Grover had a summer home? Percy had never even considered that Grover's family might be as rich as all the other kids at Yancy. "Okay..." he said glumly. "So, like, if I want to come visit your mansion."

He nodded. "Or...or if you need me?"

"Why would I need you?" Admittedly, it came out a lot harsher than Percy had meant for it to sound.

Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple. "Look, Percy, the truth is, I-I kind of have to protect you."

Percy stared at him. All year long, he'd gotten into fights, kept bullies away from him, lost a LOT of sleep worrying that Grover'd get beaten up next year without him! And now he was acting like _he_ was the one who had defended Percy!

"Grover..." Percy spoke slowly, "what exactly are you protecting me from?"

There was a huge grinding noise under their feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs. The driver cursed and limped the Greyhound over to the side of the highway.

After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that everyone would have to get off. The two of them filed outside with everybody else.

They were on a stretch of country road-no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there. On their side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from pass-ing cars. On the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand.

The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of blood red cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-foot tub full of ice. There were no customers, just three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks Percy had ever seen in his entire life.

These socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn.

All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses.

The strangest part about it though? They all seemed to have their gazes locked right onto Percy.

Percy looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching.

Within his mind, Willow frowned as he looked at the ladies. Things were very strange. First the weird thing that was Mrs. Dodds attacked them. Then Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about Percy, like he was in mortal peril. And then these three ladies were looking at them while knitting HUGE socks. Not to mention the pen that turned into a bronze sword...and Grover's face while he was looking at the ladies.

"Grover?" Percy said in concern. "You alright man? You aren't looking so good..."

"Tell me they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?"

"Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?"

"Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all."

 _'Well I thought it was clever...'_ Willow mumbled.

 _'Of course you do, you're part of me,'_ Percy told him, making Willow grunt in acknowledgement.

The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors-gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears. Grover's breath caught in his throat.

"We're getting on the bus," he told Percy firmly. "Come on."

"What?" Percy said incredulously. "It's a thousand fucking degrees in there!"

Willow snapped at Percy, _'Hey, cursing is my shtick!'_

"Come on!'" He pried open the door and climbed inside, but Percy stayed back.

Across the road, the old ladies were still watching him. The middle one cut the yarn, and Percy could hear that snip across four lanes of traffic. Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving himself and Willow wondering who they could possibly be for.

At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life.

The passengers cheered loudly. "Darn right!" yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. "Everybody back on board!"

Once they got going, Percy started to feel feverish, as if he'd caught the flu. Grover didn't look much better either, he was shivering horribly and his teeth were chattering.

"Grover?" Percy asked.

"Yeah?" Grover responded shakily.

"What are you not telling me?"

He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. "Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?"

"You mean the old ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like ... Mrs. Dodds, are they?"

 _'Don't worry about it,'_ Willow told Percy. _'If they are, I'll just kill them. Job done, right?'_

 _'Not helping Willow!'_ Percy told him, focusing on Grover again.

His expression was hard to read, but Percy got the feeling that the fruit-stand ladies were something much, _much_ worse than Mrs. Dodds. He said, "Just tell me what you saw."

"The middle one took out her scissors, and she cut the yarn."

He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself, but it wasn't. It was something else, something almost...older. He said, "You saw her snip the cord."

"Yeah. So?" But even as Percy said it, he could tell it was a big deal by how Grover was reacting.

"This is not happening," Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. "I don't want this to be like the last time."

"What last time?"

"Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth."

"Grover, you're freaking me out man," Percy said. He was really starting to get scared. "What are you talking about?"

"Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me."

Willow's eyes narrowed, _'He knows something! He didn't deny anything about Mrs. Dodds! He's hiding something from us!'_

Percy could tell, but he was going to press Grover for more information. "Grover...that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean somebody is going to die?"

Grover looked at Percy mournfully, like he'd already picked which flowers would look best on his coffin.

Percy tore away his gaze from Grover, and let himself fall into a conversation with Willow. _'Something weird is going on...what could it possibly be?'_

 _'I don't know,'_ Willow mumbled. _'If we figure it out, then maybe it can explain my powers...we need to figure out, Percy. Grover and Mr. Brunner are hiding something...maybe mother will know something..."_

The sane half didn't respond, but Willow knew he was in agreement. Percy's fist clenched. He was going to find out what the heck was going on around him, one way...or another.


	3. Chapter 3: Should Have Listened In Class

**Summary:** **At the tender age of 6, Percy Jackson loses his sanity, creating an alter ego that kills his step-father after watching him beat his mother in a drunken state: Willow. Unable to remember what he did, Sally tells Percy that Gabe decided to leave them and buries him somewhere. 6 years later, when Miss Dodds attacks Percy, Willow awakens once more, with a strange power...**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson & The Olympians. Rated M for swearing and future lemons**

 **AN: The harem pairing is sounding really good to me right now...no, it won't include Annabeth or Artemis if I do decide for a harem. The two are far too overused in stories. I can't NOT find a PercyxAnnabeth story or a PercyxArtemis story.**

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Should Have Listened In Class**

Percy would admit that it was a dick move later, but he ditched Grover as soon as they got to the bus terminal.

Yes, it was incredibly rude of him to do so, but Grover was creeping Percy and Willow out. And Willow was insane! That said something about how much they were creeped out. He kept looking at Percy as if he were a dead man, muttering "Why does this always happen?" and "Why does it always have to be sixth grade?"

Whenever he got upset, Grover's bladder acted up, so Percy wasn't surprised when, as soon as they got off the bus, he made Percy promise to wait for him, then made a beeline for the restroom. Instead of waiting, he grabbed his suitcase, slipped outside, and caught the first taxi uptown.

"East One-hundred-and-fourth and First," he told the driver.

As they drove, he thought about his mother.

Her name was Sally Jackson and she- to Percy- was best person in the world, which just proved his theory that the best people have the rottenest luck. Her own parents died in a plane crash when she was five, and she was raised by an uncle who didn't care much about her. She wanted to be a novelist, so she spent high school working to save enough money for a college with a good creative-writing program. Then her uncle got cancer, and she had to quit school her senior year to take care of him. After he died, she was left with no money, no family, and no diploma.

The only good break that happened after that was meeting Percy's dad.

Percy didn't have any memories of him, just this sort of warm glow, maybe the barest trace of his smile. His mom didn't like talking about him because it made her upset. She didn't have any pictures.

See, they weren't married. She told Percy he was rich and important, and their relationship was a secret. Then one day, he led an exploration into a cave abroad, and he never came back.

Lost in darkness, Sally always told him. Not dead. Lost in darkness.

But sometimes, she told him that his dad set sail across the Atlantic on some important journey, and he never came back. Lost at sea, she'd tell him when it came to that story. Not dead. Lost at sea.

It confused Percy a great deal. His mother seemed almost... _confused_ when it came to telling the story. Sometimes it was lost in darkness, other times it was lost at sea. It confused him so much...he really just wanted to know who the hell his father was.

Sally used to work odd jobs, took night classes to get her high school diploma, and raise him on her own. She never complained or got mad. Not even once. But Percy knew full well he wasn't an easy kid.

 _'That's an understatement,'_ Willow snorted.

 _'Shut up,'_ Percy told him before he got his train of thought back on track.

Finally, she married Gabe Ugliano, who was nice the first thirty seconds the two knew him, then showed his true colors as a world-class jerk. Percy appropriately nicknamed him Smelly Gabe when he was a child. The guy reeked like moldy garlic pizza wrapped in gym shorts.

Of course, Percy didn't have to deal with Gabe once he'd vanished...

 _'No, once he was killed,'_ he thought to himself. _'By my hand...'_

 _'Actually it was my hand,'_ Willow cut in.

Percy quipped, _'But it's my body.'_ Willow grumbled, knowing Percy had him on that one.

After Gabe had been killed, things had gotten better for his mom. Since he hadn't written a will, and he had no other living relatives, she got all of his money and possessions, and was finally able to finish her night classes and get her high school diploma. She wrote a book called 'The Adventures of Orion Jameson'. Percy had no clue where his mom got the inspiration for the story, but it was about a young boy who was the reincarnation of Orion, who was allegedly a son of Poseidon. It went through how he got back all his memories after being attacked by a monster, and started to train himself up to hunt down monster's and find the woman he'd fallen in love with: The Moon Goddess Artemis.

The story became a New York times best seller within a matter of months. But his mom never wasted the money, instead keeping it all saved up and continuing to live in the small apartment where Gabe had been killed.

Percy nor Willow could wait to see their mom again.

* * *

Percy walked into the little apartment, and gave a small smile as he looked around. It was clean and styled just the way his mom had always wanted before Gabe died. He looked around, smiling softly. It was just like he remembered it being the last time he was here.

He gave the house a quick look around, before deciding his mother was out, possibly doing the groceries. He headed to his room and dropped his suitcase on his bed. Home sweet home.

It brought a small smile to his lips, the smell here was far better than the nightmares of Mrs. Dodds, or the sound of that old fruit lady's shears snipping the yarn.

But as soon as the thought crossed his mind, his legs felt weak. He remembered Grover's look of panic-how he'd made Percy promise that he wouldn't go home without him. A sudden chill rolled up his spine. He felt like someone- something-was looking for him right _now_ , maybe pounding its way up the stairs, growing long, horrible talons.

Then he heard Sally's voice. "Percy?" She opened the bedroom door, and his fears melted.

Sally could make anyone feel good just by walking into the room. Her eyes sparkle and change color in the light. Her smile is as warm as a quilt. She's got a few gray streaks mixed in with her long brown hair, but nobody could ever really think of her as old. When she looked at Percy, it's like she's seeing all the good things about him, none of the bad. Not once in his life had he heard her raise her voice or say an unkind word to anyone.

It's what made Percy believe his bad behaviour came from his dad.

"Oh, Percy." She hugged him tight. "I can't believe it. You've grown since Christmas!" She was dressed in an apron, which meant she'd probably just put it on before realizing that he might be home. It was the one she wore when she made sweets for him, so it smelled like a lot of great things: chocolate, licorice, and all the other delicious sweets she made for him.

The two sat together on the edge of the bed. While Percy attacked the blueberry sour strings, she ran her hand through his hair and demanded to know everything that he hadn't put in his letters. She didn't mention anything about his getting expelled. She didn't seem to care about that. But was he okay? Was her little boy doing all right?

He told her she was smothering him, and to lay off and all that, but secretly, Percy and Willow was really, really glad to see her.

That thought made Percy stop dead in his tracks. _Willow_. That was something he needed to talk about with his mom. "Hey...mom?" he said softly.

"Yes Percy?"

"What happened to Gabe?"

Sally froze, but it was only for a second. "I told you Percy. He vanished. He decided to leave us."

Percy frowned and looked down, before he looked up at her and looked her dead in the eyes, "Mom...I know about Willow."

Her eyes widened, "Y-you do?"

He nodded mutely. "He...woke up a little while after Christmas, on a trip to the museum..."

"What happened Percy?" she demanded, her eyes narrowing a little.

"I..." Percy looked down. He didn't want to tell her, he was afraid she'd send him away again. Percy didn't want that. He wanted to stay with his mom.

 _'Tell her...'_ Willow spoke up. _'We...we should not lie to mother...'_

Percy knew Willow was right. Sighing, he looked into her eyes and spoke, "It started when Mr. Brunner was leading us through the Greek and Roman section of the museum..."

* * *

Once he was done, Sally had fallen into silence. Her gaze became distant, as if she were reliving a memory. Percy sat there quietly, waiting for her to respond. It felt like an eternity to him, not knowing how she would respond.

Finally, Sally sighed, "I hoped you wouldn't find out so soon...I was thinking we had maybe another year..."

He blinked, "Huh? What are you talking about mom?"

"Percy...you aren't normal. No, I'm not talking about your dyslexia or your ADHD," she said quickly, before Percy could complain. "Percy it...it has to do with your father..."

He froze instantly, Willow's eyes widening within his mind. "My...father?"

Sally nodded and opened her mouth to talk, before she closed it and shook her head. "This isn't the place to talk about this," she decided, and then she gave Percy a smile. "But I know the perfect place we can speak of it. I've been planning it since Christmas."

"What is it mom?" he asked anxiously.

Her smile grew wider, "We're going to the beach."

His eyes widened. "Montauk?"

"Three nights- same cabin."

"When?"

She smiled. "As soon as you get packed for it."

Percy immediately set to work packing. He could hardly believe it. He and his mother hadn't been to Montauk the last two summers because she'd just been swamped with work for her 'Orion Jameson' series. And now that they could, Percy was very excited. Willow was excited as well. He hadn't been awake each time they'd been to Montauk, but he saw Percy's memories of it, and was looking forward to going there.

An hour later, the two were all ready to leave.

Percy lugged their suitcases into the car while Sally grabbed three keys. One for her, one for Percy, and one in case a key was lost, which she hid under the doormat- because where else would you hide it? The car they would be driving was Gabe's '78 Camaro. It was one of many great things Gabe's death had given to the two of them. A ride. The car was Sally's legal property since Gabe was dead, meaning they could use it whenever they so pleased.

He was smiling, but Percy got a bad feeling. He made the hand gesture he had seen Grover make on the bus, a sort of warding-off-evil gesture, a clawed hand over his heart. Not feeling any safer, Percy got in the car with Sally, and asked her to step on it.

* * *

The rental cabin was on the south shore, way out at the tip of Long Island. It was a little pastel box with faded curtains, half sunken into the dunes. There was always sand in the sheets and spiders in the cabinets, and most of the time the sea was too cold to swim in.

Percy adored the place.

They'd been going there since he was a baby. His mom had been going even longer. She never exactly said, but he knew why the beach was special to her. It was the place where she'd met his father.

Again, the story always differed. Sometimes, she'd say that his father hated the sea, but other times, she'd say that he absolutely loved it. It was one of those things that confused Percy, and Sally. She always looked so frustrated when she was trying to think of which one was true, and which one was false, as if she couldn't tell the difference.

As they got closer to Montauk, she seemed to grow younger, years of worry and work disappearing from her face. Her eyes seemed to change though. Her right eye turned to the colour of the sea, while the left eye turned to a coal black.

They got there at sunset, opened all the cabin's windows, and went through their usual cleaning routine. They walked on the beach, fed blue corn chips to the seagulls, and munched on blue jelly beans, blue saltwater taffy, and all the other treats that Sally had bought from a sweet shop she used to work at.

There was a reason for the blue food. Once, Gabe told Sally there was no such thing as blue food. They had a fight, which had seemed minor at the time, but Sally wanted to spite Gabe. She went out of her way to eat blue. She baked blue birthday cakes. She mixed blueberry smoothies. She bought blue-corn tortilla chips and brought home blue candy from the shop. This- along with keeping her maiden name, Jackson, rather than calling herself Mrs. Ugliano- was proof that she wasn't totally suckered by Gabe. Percy got his rebellious streak from her.

When it got dark, they made a fire. The two roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Sally told Percy stories about when she was a kid, back before her parents died in the plane crash. She spoke about how great her 'Orion Jameson' book series was going.

Eventually, Percy got up the nerve to ask about what was always on his mind whenever they went to Montauk- his father. Sally's eyes went all misty. He figured she would tell him the same things she always did, but Percy never got tired of hearing them. It was especially exciting for Willow, who had been asleep and never heard a word about it.

"He was kind, Percy," she said. "Tall, handsome, and powerful. But gentle, too. You have his black hair, you know, and his black eyes." She fished a blue jelly bean out of her candy bag. "I wish he could see you, Percy. He would be so proud."

Percy blinked. _'Black eyes?'_ he thought to himself. _'My eyes are sea green...this is the first time mom's said that...'_

 _'Something is wrong!'_ Willow hissed. _'Look at her eyes! They seem so confused at her own words!'_

"Mom..." Percy took a breath. "What is my father's name? All this time, I've heard stories about how dad is gone, but you keep changing between two stories. One says he's lost as sea. The other says he is lost in darkness. Which is it mom? What is his name?"

Sally hesitated, and she visibly looked conflicted, as if trying to find the truth, before she finally spoke. "Your father's name, Percy, is Hades. The Greek God of the Underworld."

Percy froze. Had he just misheard her? Did she...just say that his father was the Greek God of Hell? Willow himself was also speechless. However Willow thought of it though, it made a lot of sense. His strange power to control the darkness...it was clear why now. Their father was related to darkness, through the underworld.

"Mom...what did you just..." he breathed out, unable to believe it.

"It was strange," she said softly. "Meeting the God of the Underworld. I was here, at this cabin, by myself and enjoying the quiet, when I heard a knock on the door. I opened it, and I saw him. He was...so handsome, and so kind, despite his moniker as God of the Underworld. I was able to see him for who he was right away, he mentioned something about me being 'a clear sighted mortal'...I fell in love, Percy, in only a few minutes. We spent time together here, before he had to leave. He told me that he probably wouldn't see me again, but I was okay with it. He never offered me anything, and I wouldn't have accepted it, which he knew. We parted ways after the Summer, and I had you the next year. He knew I was expecting you, but he was never able to see you..."

Percy's head was spinning. "B-but wait...why is it you always said he was lost at sea or lost in darkness?"

At the first saying, Sally grew bitter. "That...would be because of your uncle...Poseidon, the Greek God of the Seas...he came not long after your father left, and he was...let's say annoyed that his brother had such a beautiful woman all to himself on a place near his domain, the sea. I woke up in the middle of the night, and there he was, standing above me with anger in his eyes...he said to me 'I will make sure your son shall never be known as a child of the Underworld' and then he used a Greek spell on me. It altered my memories to make it seem as if I'd met Poseidon here for the Summer instead, and as he did that he claimed you as his adoptive child whilst you were still in my womb...it caused you to take on some of his traits...when you were first born, you didn't have green eyes, they were black. But they changed over the years to green.

"But," she continued, "Poseidon didn't realise that I was a clear sighted mortal. I can see through the veil that separates the Supernatural from the Natural. It is called 'The Mist'."

Percy's eyes widened. "I heard Mr. Brunner and Grover talking about that," he told his mother. "They were talking about me seeing Mrs. Dodds in that weird form, and Mr. Brunner said the Mist would be enough to trick me!"

She nodded, "Yes, the Mist is powerful magic...it was because I can see through it that instead of losing my memories of your true father, Poseidon just layered them on top of the memories I already had, making it like I lived two different Summer's in the same year. It has been...dreadfully confusing for me, which is why my stories always varied about that Summer."

Silence descended between them as Percy lost himself in his thoughts, as did Willow. Willow saw how much it made sense, and Percy was beginning to understand the whispers he'd heard after Nancy had ended up in the water...'like the water grabbed her'...it's because it had. It had reacted to his anger, and pulled Nancy into the water.

"So where does that leave us?" he finally found his voice. "Are...are you going to send me to another boarding school?"

Sally looked down and shook her head. "No...I've been sending you to boarding schools because I have been foolish...there is a place where children like you can be safe...children of the gods..."

Percy looked at her in surprise. "A place? Why haven't I been sent there?"

She bit her lip, "Because...I was afraid once you'd been there, you'd never want to come home...I sent you to all those boarding schools to drown you in human stench, to keep monsters away-"

"They exist?!"

"Yes," she nodded, "monsters exist. They don't bother humans though, only half-bloods...there is a Summer Camp, but you are able to stay there year round...I've been afraid to send you there because I'm worried once you've been there, you won't want to come back..."

Percy looked at his mother in concern, before he gripped her hand, "I'll always come back to you mom...you're the only family I have...I love you..."

That was all it took for the water works to start. Sally broke down crying as she hugged Percy tightly. She gripped tight and refused to let go, and Percy didn't try to stop her. One of his sea green eyes turned amber as he shared his body with Willow. They returned their mother's embrace and shut their eyes tight as a few tears leaked out of their eyes.

It was at that time, Percy made a vow. He wouldn't let his mother cry ever again. And Willow made a similar vow. He would destroy anyone, or anything, that harmed their mother.

Nobody would lie in Willow's way and live.

Willow smiled softly. _'Yes...'_ he thought. _'A wonderful name for my power...'Willow's Way'...'_

* * *

That night, Percy had a vivid dream.

It was storming on the beach, and two beautiful animals, a white horse and a golden eagle, were trying to kill each other at the edge of the surf. The eagle swooped down and slashed the horse's muzzle with its huge talons. The horse reared up and kicked at the eagles wings. As they fought, the ground rumbled, and a monstrous voice chuckled somewhere beneath the earth, goading the animals to fight harder.

He ran toward them, knowing he had to stop them from killing each other, but he was running in slow motion. Percy knew he would be too late. He watched as the eagle dived down, its beak aimed at the horse's wide eyes, and Percy screamed, _'NO!'_

Percy woke with a start.

Outside, it really was storming, the kind of storm that cracks trees and blows down houses. There was no horse or eagle on the beach, just lightning making false daylight, and twenty-foot waves pounding the dunes like artillery.

With the next thunderclap, Sally's eyes shot open. She sat up, eyes wide, and said, "Hurricane."

Percy knew that was crazy. Long Island never sees hurricanes this early in the summer. But the ocean seemed to have forgotten. Over the roar of the wind, he heard a distant bellow, an angry, tortured sound that made his hair stand on end. Willow's eyes narrowed on the other hand.

 _'A monster...'_ Willow whispered. _'One that mother told us about...'_

Then a much closer noise, like mallets in the sand. A desperate voice-someone yelling, pounding on their cabin door.

Sally sprang out of bed in her nightgown and threw open the lock.

Grover stood framed in the doorway against a backdrop of pouring rain. But he wasn't... he wasn't exactly Grover.

"Searching all night," he gasped. "What were you thinking?"

Sally looked at Percy in terror- not scared of Grover, but the reason he'd come. Sally had told Percy she'd take him to the safe place after their trip. They didn't have enough time.

"Percy!" she shouted, to be heard over the rain. "Grab your things! We're leaving!"

Percy on the other hand was frozen, looking at Grover. Seeing at how he wouldn't be moving any time soon, Willow took over- green shifting to amber- and he grabbed his things. They ran to the car.

Willow ignored the fact that Grover had yelled in Ancient Greek, and yet he and Percy had understood him perfectly. He ignored thoughts on how Grover had gotten there by himself in the middle of the night. But what he _didn't_ ignore was the fact Grover wasn't wearing pants, and where his legs should have been...

Grover ran for the Camaro- but he wasn't running, exactly. He was trotting, shaking his shaggy hindquarters, and suddenly his story about a muscular disorder in his legs made sense. Willow and Percy understood how he could run so fast and still limp when he walked.

Because where his feet should be, there were no feet. There were cloven hooves.

As they jumped into the car, Willow muttered, "I KNEW we should have paid more attention in class.."


	4. Chapter 4: Come to me Cursed Spear!

**Summary:At the tender age of 6, Percy Jackson loses his sanity, creating an alter ego that kills his step-father after watching him beat his mother in a drunken state: Willow. Unable to remember what he did, Sally tells Percy that Gabe decided to leave them and buries him somewhere. 6 years later, when Miss Dodds attacks Percy, Willow awakens once more, with a strange power...**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson & The Olympians. Rated M for swearing and future lemons**

 **AN: After MUCH thought on my part, I have officially decided the pairing is...a harem. Here are its current members.**

 **Nancy.**

 **...No that's it so far. Just Nancy. What? Can you honestly say you DIDN'T see that coming after Chapter 2? Wait. You thought I'd have more? Well no. The Harem is going to be limited to 4 or 5 girls, and that is it. I honestly came up with this decision as I started writing this chapter. Yeah I know, surprising, but it's all I've got.**

 **But enough with that, let's get on with the story!**

* * *

 **Chapter 4: Come To Me; Cursed Spear!**

The group tore through the night along dark country roads. Wind slammed against the Camaro. Rain lashed the wind-shield. Willow had no clue how his mother could see anything, but she kept her foot on the gas the entire time.

Every time there was a flash of lightning, Willow looked at Grover sitting next to him in the backseat and wondered if his insanity was playing up, or if he was wearing some kind of shag-carpet pants. But, no, the smell was one that Percy remembered from kindergarten field trips to the petting zoo- lanolin, like from wool. The smell of a wet barnyard animal.

"How is it you and mother know each other?" Willow demanded.

Graver's eyes flitted to the rearview mirror, though there were no cars behind them. "Not exactly," he said. "I mean, we've never met in person. But she knew I was watching you." He turned his gaze to Willow and his eyes widened. "Perce...what's with your eyes?"

"I'm not Percy," he told Grover firmly. "My name is Willow."

"So Percy was telling the truth about that," Sally's voice came from the front. "You are awake. Hello son."

Willow nodded politely, "Mother. Sorry we had to speak again in such unsavoury circumstances."

Sally smiled sadly, "It's alright. I'm glad your okay."

"Time out," Grover said hastily. "What is going on here? What do you mean your name is Willow, and what does Sally mean by awake?"

The psychotic half of Percy Jackson tilted his head, wondering what the best way to explain things would be, before shaking his head. "Now is not the time," he decided. "What do you mean by 'watching you'?"

"Keeping tabs on you. Making sure you were okay. But I wasn't faking being your friend," he added hastily. "I am your friend."

"And you are a satyr?" Willow raised an eyebrow. "From Latin class? The myths are true?"

"Were those old ladies at the fruit stand a myth, Percy? Was Mrs. Dodds a myth?"

"Willow," he said stubbornly. "And we _knew_ Mrs. Dodds was real. Why on Earth where you trying to hide it?"

"The less you knew, the fewer monsters you'd attract," Grover said, like that should be perfectly obvious. "We put Mist over the humans' eyes. We hoped you'd think the Kindly One was a hallucination. But it was no good. You started to realise who you are."

Willow rolled his eyes at Grover. "Oh yes, because hiding it has done _soooo_ well thus far," he muttered bitterly.

The weird bellowing noise rose up again somewhere behind them, closer than before. Whatever was chasing them was still on their trail.

"Willow," Sally spoke up again, "we have too much to explain, and nowhere near enough time. We have to get you to safety."

"From the monsters," he guessed. "But who is after me?"

"Oh, nobody much," Grover said. "Just the Lord of the Dead and a few of his blood-thirstiest minions."

"Grover!"

"Sorry, Mrs. Jackson. Could you drive faster, please?"

Amber eyes narrowed and Willow frowned. Lord of the Dead...was Grover referring to Hades? His father? But that didn't make sense. Why would his father try to kill him?

Sally made a hard left. They swerved onto a narrower road, racing past darkened farmhouses and wooded hills and PICK YOUR OWN STRAWBERRIES signs on white picket fences.

"Where are we going?" Willow asked.

"The summer camp I told you about." Sally's voice was tight; she was trying for his sake not to be scared. "The safe place I told you about."

"The place you've been avoiding sending me to," Willow corrected, before holding his head in mild pain. It appeared Percy was starting to come out of his shock. _'At ease Percy,'_ he thought calmly to his sane half. _'I'm in control now. I'm trying to understand things, just take it easy until I figure things out.'_

 _'A-alright,'_ Percy agreed, though hesitantly.

"Please, dear," she begged. "This is hard enough. Try to understand. You're in danger."

"Because some old ladies cut some-" Willow stopped as he remembered one of the myths. "Those were..."

"The Fates," Grover finished. "Do you know what it means-the fact they appeared in front of you? They only do that when you're about to ... when someone's about to die."

"You just said you," Willow said accusingly.

"No I didn't. I said 'someone.'"

"You meant 'you.' As in me."

"I meant you, like 'someone.' Not you, you."

"Boys!" Sally said.

"Sorry mother," Willow mumbled.

She pulled the wheel hard to the right, and Willow got a glimpse of a figure she'd swerved to avoid-a dark fluttering shape now lost behind them in the storm.

Willow stared out the back of the window. "What the hell was that?"

"We're almost there," Sally whispered desperately, ignoring the question. "Another mile. Please. Please. Please."

Neither Willow nor Percy knew exactly where 'there' was, but they figured if they got 'there', then they'd be safe. That sounded good.

Outside, nothing but rain and darkness-the kind of empty countryside you get way out on the tip of Long Island. Percy thought about Mrs. Dodds and the moment when she'd changed into the thing with pointed teeth and leathery wings. His limbs went numb from delayed shock. She really hadn't been human. She'd meant to kill him. If Willow hadn't woken up...

 _'Percy,'_ Willow warned. _'Stop.'_

Then he thought about Mr. Brunner...and the sword he had thrown. Before Willow could berate Percy again, his hair stood on its end. There was a blinding flash, a jaw-rattling 'BOOM!', and then the car exploded.

Willow felt weightless, like he was being crushed, fried, and hosed down all at once.

He pulled his forehead off the driver's seat. "Fuck, that hurt," he hissed in pain.

"Percy!" Sally shouted, out of instinct since she knew he was Willow.

"I'm fine..."

Willow was quick to shake off the daze. They weren't dead. The car hadn't really exploded. They'd swerved into a ditch. The driver's side doors were wedged in the mud. The roof had cracked open like an eggshell and rain was pouring in.

Lightning. That was the only explanation. They'd been blasted right off the road. Next to Willow in the backseat was a big motionless lump. "Grover!"

He was slumped over, blood trickling from the side of his mouth. Percy managed to wrestle back control from Willow, amber turning to green, as he shook his best friend. _'No!'_ he yelled mentally. ' _Even if you are half barnyard animal, you're my best friend and I don't want you to die!'_

Then he groaned "Food," and Percy knew his friend was okay.

"Percy," his mother said, "we have to..." Her voice faltered.

He looked back. In a flash of lightning, through the mud-spattered rear windshield, he saw a figure lumbering toward them on the shoulder of the road. The sight of it made Percy's skin crawl. It was a dark silhouette of a huge guy, like a football player. He seemed to be holding a blanket over his head. His top half was bulky and fuzzy. His upraised hands made it look like he had horns.

Percy swallowed. _Hard._ "Who is-"

"Percy," Sally whispered, deadly serious. "Get out of the car."

Sally threw herself against the driver's-side door. It was jammed shut in the mud. Percy tried his own. Stuck too. He looked up desperately at the hole in the roof. It might've been an exit, but the edges were sizzling and smoking.

"Climb out the passenger's side!" his mother told him. "Percy-you have to run. Do you see that big tree?"

"What?"

Another flash of lightning, and through the smoking hole in the roof he saw the tree she meant: a huge, White House Christmas tree-sized pine at the crest of the nearest hill.

"That's the property line," she told him. "Get over that hill and you'll see a big farmhouse down in the valley. Run and don't look back. Yell for help. Don't stop until you reach the door."

"Mom, you're coming too."

Her face was pale, her eyes as sad as when she looked at the ocean.

 _'Do not leave her behind!'_ Willow hissed at Percy.

"No!" Percy shouted. "You are coming with me. Help me carry Grover."

"Food!" Grover moaned, a little louder.

The man with the blanket on his head kept going towards them, making his grunting, snorting noises. As he got closer, Percy realised he couldn't be holding a blanket over his head, because his hands-huge meaty hands-were swing-ing at his sides. There was no blanket. Meaning the bulky, fuzzy mass that was too big to be his head...was his head. And the points that looked like horns...

"He doesn't want us," Sally told Percy. "He wants you. Besides, I can't cross the property line."

"But..."

"We don't have time, Percy. Go. Please."

Percy got angry, then mad at his mother, at Grover the goat, at the thing with horns that was lumbering toward them slowly and deliberately like...like a bull.

 _'Minotaur...'_ Willow whispered, remembering the Greek Myth.

Percy climbed across Grover and pushed the door open into the rain. "We're going together. Come on, Mom."

"I told you-"

"Mom! I am not leaving you. Help me with Grover."

He didn't wait for her answer. he scrambled outside, dragging Grover from the car. He was surprisingly light, but he couldn't have carried him very far if Sally hadn't come to his aid. Together, they draped Grover's arms over their shoulders and started stumbling uphill through wet waist-high grass.

Glancing back, Percy finally got his first clear look at the monster. He was seven feet tall, easy, his arms and legs like something from the cover of Muscle Man magazine-bulging biceps and triceps and a bunch of other 'ceps, all stuffed like baseballs under vein-webbed skin. He wore no clothes except underwear- bright white Fruit of the Looms- which would've looked funny, except that the top half of his body was so scary. Coarse brown hair started at about his belly button and got thicker as it reached his shoulders.

His neck was a mass of muscle and fur leading up to his enormous head, which had a snout as long as my arm, snotty nostrils with a gleaming brass ring, cruel black eyes, and horns-enormous black and white horns with points you just couldn't get from an electric sharpener.

Now what Willow said made sense. He too could recall the myth now where this bull-man appeared. Party of Percy screamed it wasn't real, but Willow was there to say it was.

"Pasiphae's son," Sally whispered in fear. "I wish I'd known how badly they want to kill you."

"But he's the Min-"

"Don't say his name," she warned. "Names have power."

The pine tree was still way too far-a hundred yards uphill at least.

It was at that point, Percy felt something strange. A female voice whispered in his ear, almost like a ghost, _'Hurry! If you don't then, you'll suffer the same fate I did! Please, hurry!'_

Percy glanced back again.

The bull-man hunched over the car, looking in the windows- or not looking, exactly. More like snuffling, nuzzling. Percy wasn't sure why he bothered, since they were only about fifty feet away.

"Food?" Grover moaned.

"Shut it," Percy hissed at him. "Mom, what's he doing? Doesn't he see us?"

"His sight and hearing are terrible," she said. "He goes by smell. But he'll figure out where we are soon enough."

As if on cue, the Minotaur bellowed in rage. He picked up the Camaro by the torn roof, the chassis creaking and groaning. He raised the car over his head and threw it down the road. It slammed into the wet asphalt and skidded in a shower of sparks for about half a mile before coming to a stop. The gas tank exploded.

"Percy," my mom said. "When he sees us, he'll charge. Wait until the last second, then jump out of the way- directly sideways. He can't change directions very well once he's charging. Do you understand?"

"How do you know all this?"

"I've been worried about an attack for a long time. I should have expected this. I was selfish, keeping you near me."

"No mom," Percy gasped. "You just-"

Another bellow of rage, and the bull-man started tromping uphill.

He'd caught their scent.

The pine tree was only a few more yards, but the hill was getting steeper and slicker, and Grover wasn't getting any lighter.

The bull-man closed in. Another few seconds and he'd be on top of them.

Sally must've been exhausted, but she shouldered Grover. "Go, Percy! Separate! Remember what I said."

He didn't want to split up, but he had the feeling she was right- it was their only chance. He sprinted to the left, turned, and saw the creature bearing down on him. His black eyes glowed with hate. He reeked like rotten meat.

 _'Give me control!'_ Willow urged. _'Let me slay him!'_

Percy didn't need to be told twice. Immediately green shattered into cold amber. Willow pulled out the pen and tossed off the cap, causing the bronze sword to grow into life.

The Minotaur lowered his head and charged, those razor-sharp horns aimed straight at his chest.

Amber eyes narrowed. Willow waved his arm and darkness surrounded them. The bull-man didn't seem to care though, as he kept charging. Willow cursed. He had bad eyesight, which meant the darkness was useless, but maybe he could trick him with sounds. _"Do you love?"_ his voice came from the monster's left.

It didn't even slow down.

"Fuck!" Willow dove out the way at the last second, and the darkness vanished. His power was completely useless to him!

The Minotaur stormed past like a freight train, then bellowed with frustration and turned, but not toward Willow this time, toward Sally, who was setting Grover down in the grass.

They'd reached the crest of the hill. Down the other side Willow could see a valley, just as Sally had said, and the lights of a farmhouse glowing yellow through the rain. But that was half a mile away. He'd never make it.

The bull-man grunted, pawing the ground. He kept eyeing Sally, who was now retreating slowly downhill, back toward the road, trying to lead the monster away from Grover.

"Run, Percy!" she told him. "I can't go any farther. Run!"

But Willow just stood there, his eyes widening as he watched the Minotaur charge at her. She tried to sidestep, as he had done earlier, but the monster had learned his lesson. His hand shot out and grabbed her by the neck as she tried to get away. He lifted her as she struggled, kicking and pummelling the air.

"Mother!"

She caught his eyes, managed to choke out one last word: "Go!"

Then, with an angry roar, the monster closed his fists around Sally's neck, and she dissolved before his eyes, melting into light, a shimmering golden form, as if she were a holographic projection. A blinding flash, and she was simply...gone.

Willow broke. Percy roared.

They screamed in pure anger. Newfound power burned into their limbs. Willow's left eye changed from amber to a deep, sea green. The eyes fell on the Minotaur, hatred lying within them.

The bull-man bore down on Grover, who lay helpless in the grass. The monster hunched over, snuffling my best friend, as if he were about to lift Grover up and make him dissolve too.

They wouldn't allow that.

He stripped off his red rain jacket.

"Hey!" they screamed, two voices layered over the other, waving the jacket, running to one side of the monster. "Hey, stupid! Ground beef!"

"Raaaarrrrr!" The monster turned toward him, shaking his meaty fists.

They had an idea. Granted it was a _stupid_ idea, but it was better than no idea at all. He put his back to the big pine tree and waved the red jacket in front of the bull-man, thinking he'd jump out of the way at the last moment.

But it didn't happen like that.

The bull-man charged too fast, his arms out to grab me whichever way he tried to dodge.

Time almost seemed to slow down as the dual coloured eyes narrowed.

Their legs tensed. He couldn't jump sideways so he leaped straight up, kicking off from the creature's head, using it as a springboard, turning in midair, and suddenly, his eyes widened as he hung in the air for a little while, watching the creature slam into the tree with a huge amount of impact. He fell to the Earth and landed.

 _'How did we do that?'_ Percy and Willow thought as one. The two were currently in perfect synch. They wanted the same thing: the death of this monster.

Meanwhile, Grover started groaning in the grass. They wanted to yell at him to shut up, but they couldn't risk giving away their position just yet.

The bull-man wheeled toward him, pawed the ground again, and got ready to charge. Their eyes narrowed. They wouldn't allow that. "Hey fuck tard!" they yelled, their voices coming out of one mouth. "Your momma is so bitchy, Hitler shot himself to stop putting up with her shit!"

The bull-man screamed in pure rage and turned towards them. He began to paw the ground again, ready to charge. Their legs tensed again. They could feel it. Something about the way they'd hung in the air...it felt familiar to them...

The monster charged.

They jumped straight up again, spring-boarding off his heard and turning in mid air. The sword was on the ground, long forgotten, but they didn't need it. They pulled their arm back and screamed, "Come to me; Cursed Spear!"

Their call was answered.

In their grip, a long, blood red spear materialised. The entire length of the spear, save the blade, had swirling grooves running along it. The bottom end was pointed, and the spear was pointed straight at the Minotaur.

Green and amber glowed. A blood red aura began to surround their body, and they simply hung there in the air. The beast slowly turned and looked for them, unable to find them on the ground. They pulled back the spear as their muscles tightened. The blood red aura gathered at the weapon's tip. Words echoed in their mind.

 _'The cursed spear able to kill with a single blow...'_ it was a deep voice, one they couldn't recognise. _'It aims for the heart...avoiding it is impossible...a gift to you...the sea and the darkness...apart forever, but joined right now...you shall destroy this beast...the name of the spear is...'_

"GAE BOLG!" they screamed as they threw the spear towards the Minotaur. It looked up, before it roared in agony as the spear pierced its chest. There was a huge explosion that tossed Percy/Willow out of the air, and they landed by Grover.

They looked up in time to see that, in the middle of the explosion, the Minotaur crumbled into sand, blowing away into the wind as the explosion died down, the same way Mrs. Dodds had died.

The monster was gone.

Green fell back into amber as Percy passed out, though Willow wasn't far behind. He watched as the spear- somehow in tact- shot into the air and zigzagged at odd angles towards him. He held out his hand and caught it. It then immediately shrunk, becoming a blood red ring on his middle finger.

The rain had stopped. The storm still rumbled, but only in the distance. He smelled like livestock and his knees were shaking. His head felt like it was splitting open. He was weak and trembling with grief and anger. He'd just seen his mother vanish. He wanted to blow something up- well he already had- but there was Grover, needing his help, so he managed to haul him up and stagger down into the valley, toward the lights of the farm-house. He was pissed, and he knew that tears were flowing down his cheeks as he did so. He noticed that a few people were getting out of some buildings, before looking at him and Grover with shock. Willow ignored them all.

Willow collapsed on a wooden porch, looking up at a ceiling fan circling above him, moths flying around a yellow light, and the stern faces of a familiar-looking bearded man and a girl, her blond hair curled like a princess's. They both looked down at him, and the girl said, "He's the one. He must be."

"Silence, Annabeth," the man said. "He's still conscious. Bring him inside."

Willow coughed as he looked up at them. They looked down as he began to speak, his body feeling terribly weak. He wanted to say just one more thing before he fell into the comfortable darkness. "Fuck...you..." he pleasantly watched the shock come over their faces before his eyes drifted shut and he followed his sane half into unconsciousness.


	5. Chapter 5: Nancy?

**Summary: At the tender age of 6, Percy Jackson loses his sanity, creating an alter ego that kills his step-father after watching him beat his mother in a drunken state: Willow. Unable to remember what he did, Sally tells Percy that Gabe decided to leave them and buries him somewhere. 6 years later, when Miss Dodds attacks Percy, Willow awakens once more, with a strange power...**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson & The Olympians. Rated M for swearing and future lemons**

 **AN: Nothing to say, let's move right along.**

* * *

 **Chapter 5: Nancy?**

Percy and Willow had weird dreams full of barnyard animals. Most of them wanted to kill them. The rest wanted food.

They must've woken up several times, but what he heard and saw made no sense, so he just passed out again. The last time he awoke, he was lying in a soft bed, being spoon-fed something that tasted like buttered popcorn, only it was pudding. The girl with curly blond hair hovered over him, smirking as she scraped drips off his chin with the spoon.

When she saw his eyes open, she asked, "What will happen at the summer solstice?"

Percy managed to croak out, "Wh-what?"

She looked around, as if afraid someone would over-hear. "What's going on? What was stolen? We've only got a few weeks!"

"I'm sorry," he mumbled, "I don't..."

Somebody knocked on the door, and the girl quickly filled his mouth with the pudding again.

The next time he woke up, the girl was gone.

A husky blond dude, like a surfer, stood in the corner of the bedroom keeping watch over him. He had blue eyes- at least a dozen of them-on his cheeks, his forehead, the backs of his hands.

When he finally came around for good, there was nothing weird about his surroundings, except that they were nicer than he was used to. Percy was sitting in a deck chair on a huge porch, gazing across a meadow at green hills in the distance. The breeze smelled like strawberries. There was a blanket over his legs, a pillow behind his neck. All that was great, but his mouth felt like a scorpion had been using it for a nest. His tongue was dry and nasty and every one of his teeth hurt.

 _'Somebody get the number on that bull...?'_ Willow mumbled as he returned to consciousness.

 _'...That was all real, wasn't it...'_ Percy didn't phrase it as a question. Willow didn't respond, which was as good as a yes as far as Percy was concerned.

On the table next to him was a tall drink. It looked like iced apple juice, with a green straw and a paper parasol stuck through a maraschino cherry. His hand was so weak that he almost dropped the glass once he got my fingers around it.

"Careful," a familiar voice said.

Grover was leaning against the porch railing, looking like he hadn't slept in a week. Under one arm, he cradled a shoe box. He was wearing blue jeans, Converse hi-tops and a bright orange T-shirt that said CAMP HALF-BLOOD. Just plain old Grover, Not the goat boy.

"You saved my life," Grover said. "I... well, the least I could do ... I went back to the hill. I thought you might want this."

Reverently, he placed the shoe box in Percy's lap.

Inside was a black-and-white bull's horn, the entire thing heavily scorched but still in tact. All of Percy's fears were confirmed again. This was real.

"The Minotaur..."

"Um, Percy, it isn't a good idea-"

"That's what they call him in the Greek myths, isn't it?" he demanded. "The Minotaur. Half man, half bull."

Grover shifted uncomfortably. "You've been out for two days. How much do you remember?"

"My mom. Is she really ..."

He looked down.

Percy stared across the meadow. There were groves of trees, a winding stream, acres of strawberries spread out under the blue sky. The valley was surrounded by rolling hills, and the tallest one, directly in front of them, was the one with the huge pine tree on top. Even that looked beautiful in the sunlight.

His mother was gone. The whole world should be black and cold. Nothing should have looked beautiful anymore.

"I'm sorry," Grover sniffled. "I'm a failure. I'm-I'm the worst satyr in the world."

He moaned, stomping his foot so hard it came off. Well, the Converse hi-top came off. The inside was filled with Styrofoam, except for a hoof-shaped hole.

"Oh, Styx!" he mumbled.

Thunder rolled across the clear sky.

As he struggled to get his hoof back in the fake foot, Percy thought, ' _Well, that settles it.'_

Everything was real. It was damn real. Percy's eyes widened. That meant his talk with his mother had been real too. His father was Hades...the Greek God of the Underworld...and his uncle, Poseidon, was angry at that, and had adopted Percy as his son while he was still in his mother's womb.

Percy wasn't sure how he felt about his father being the God of the Dead. Hades shouldn't have a grudge against him at least, that was a good thing. His dad wouldn't ever want to kill him or anything right? Right?

Grover was still sniffling. The poor kid- poor goat, satyr, whatever- looked as if he expected to be hit.

Percy finally said, "It wasn't your fault."

"Yes, it was. I was supposed to protect you."

"Did my mother ask you to protect me?"

"No. But that's my job. I'm a keeper. At least... I was."

"But why.." he suddenly felt dizzy, his vision was swimming.

"Don't strain yourself," Grover said. "Here." He helped Percy hold the glass and put the straw to his lips.

He recoiled at the taste, because he was _expecting_ apple juice. It wasn't that at all. It was chocolate-chip cookies. Liquid cookies. And not just any cookies- his mom's homemade blue chocolate-chip cookies, buttery and hot, with the chips still melting. Drinking it, his whole body felt warm and good, full of energy. His grief didn't go away, but he felt as if his mom had just brushed her hand against his cheek, given him a cookie the way she used to when he was small, and told him everything was going to be okay.

There was also a second lying taste to it. It took Percy a minute to realise that it tasted like raspberry juice mixed with orange juice. It was a strange taste next to the cookies and yet it just...worked.

Before Percy knew it, he'd drained the glass. He stared into it, sure he'd just had a warm drink, but the ice cubes hadn't even melted.

 _'Oh that tasted good,'_ Willow drooled happily. Percy quickly figured out where the raspberry/orange juice taste came from.

"Was it good?" Grover asked.

All Percy could do was nod.

"What did it taste like?" He sounded so wistful. Percy felt guilty.

"Sorry," he said apologetically. "I should've let you taste."

His eyes got wide. "No! That's not what I meant. I just... wondered."

"Chocolate-chip cookies," he said. "My mom's. Homemade...with a weird second taste of raspberry juice mixed with orange juice."

Grover looked at Percy strangely for a second, before shrugging it off. "And how do you feel?"

"Like I could throw Na-" he stopped himself. He didn't really want to throw Nancy a hundred yards anymore. "Like I could piledrive Mrs. Dodds into the ground a dozen times."

"That's good," he said. "That's good. I don't think you could risk drinking any more of that stuff."

"What do you mean?"

He took the empty glass from Percy gingerly, as if it were dynamite, and set it back on the table. "Come on. Chiron and Mr. D are waiting."

The porch wrapped all the way around the farmhouse.

His legs felt wobbly, trying to walk that far. Grover offered to carry the Minotaur horn, but Percy held on to it. He and Willow paid for that souvenir the hard way. He wasn't going to let it go.

As they came around the opposite end of the house, he caught his breath.

They must've been on the north shore of Long Island, because on this side of the house, the valley marched all the way up to the water, which glittered about a mile in the distance. Between here and there, he simply couldn't process everything he was seeing. The landscape was dotted with buildings that looked like ancient Greek architecture-an open-air pavilion, an amphitheatre, a circular arena- except that they all looked brand new, their white marble columns sparkling in the sun. In a nearby sandpit, a dozen high school-age kids and satyrs played volleyball. Canoes glided across a small lake. Kids in bright orange T-shirts like Grover's were chasing each other around a cluster of cabins nestled in the woods. Some shot targets at an archery range. Others rode horses down a wooded trail, and, unless he was hallucinating, some of their horses had wings.

Down at the end of the porch, two men sat across from each other at a card table. The blond-haired girl who'd spoon-fed Percy popcorn-flavoured pudding was leaning on the porch rail next to them.

The man facing him was small, but porky. He had a red nose, big watery eyes, and curly hair so black it was almost purple. He looked like those paintings of baby angels- cherubs. He looked like a cherub who'd turned middle-aged in a trailer park. He wore a tiger-pattern Hawaiian shirt.

"That's Mr. D," Grover murmured to Percy. "He's the camp director. Be polite. The girl, that's Annabeth Chase. She's just a camper, but she's been here longer than just about anybody. And you already know Chiron..."

He pointed at the guy who had his back to them.

First, Percy realised he was sitting in the wheelchair. Then he recognised the tweed jacket, the thinning brown hair, the scraggly beard...

"Mr. Brunner!" he cried out in surprise.

The Latin teacher turned and smiled at him. His eyes had that mischievous glint they sometimes got in class when he pulled a pop quiz and made all the multiple choice answers B.

"Ah, good, Percy," he said. "Now we have four for pinochle."

 _'Percy...let me have control for a minute...'_ Willow told him.

Percy complied. Immediately, green bled into amber. Willow rubbed the ring on his finger and everyone immediately tensed as the long, blood red spear appeared in his hands. He levelled it at Chiron. "Give me a reason," he growled angrily. "Give me a reason and I swear I'll do it!"

"Percy?" Grover questioned in worry.

Willow ignored him. "You knew!" he snapped at Chiron. "You knew about Mrs. Dodds! You knew about what I am! Yet you never told me! If you had told me, maybe I'd have come to this camp sooner! If you'd told me, then maybe my mother wouldn't be dead!" Blood red aura began to come off of Willow and the spear, his amber eyes showing pure anger.

"Percy," Chiron said in as soothing a voice as he could. "I am sorry for the loss of your mother, and I agree, but it wasn't the ti-"

"The hell it wasn't!" Willow snarled. "The time was right after I was attacked by whatever the fuck Mrs. Dodds was! The right time was at the end of term, when you decided to embarrass me in front of the class! THE RIGHT TIME WAS ANY TIME DURING WHEN YOU TRICKED THE SCHOOL!" the aura began to pulsate hard.

"Per-" Chiron tried again, but Willow cut him off.

"That isn't my name!" he snapped. "Percy is the sane part! My name is Willow!" the aura grew stronger and heavier. It looked like the blonde girl was about to leap into action, when suddenly the aura died down. Willow grit his teeth as he stabbed the spear into the ground. "Not worth it..." he muttered bitterly. "Killing you won't bring her back..." he gripped the spear and it once more shrunk into a blood red ring on his middle finger. "Know that you are on thin ice with me, 'Mr. Brunner'. I don't know if Percy is willing to give you a chance, but know that I am not."

With his piece said, Willow handed back control to Percy. Amber changed to green, and he looked at them all awkwardly. "Um...sorry about him," he said apologetically. "Willow is kind of...insane."

"I ah...see..." Chiron mumbled softly.

He offered Percy the chair next to Mr. D, who looked at Percy with bloodshot eyes and heaved a great sigh. "As amusing as your little outburst was, I'm still not looking forward to having you here. But I suppose I must say it. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. There. Now, don't expect me to be glad to see you."

 _'Asshole,'_ Willow muttered.

"Uh...thanks." Percy mumbled, before scooted a little farther away from him because, if there was one thing Percy had learned from living with Gabe as a child, it was how to tell when an adult has been hitting the 'happy juice'. If Mr. D was a stranger to alcohol, then Percy was a goat.

"Annabeth?" Mr. Brunner called to the blond girl.

She came forward and Mr. Brunner introduced them. "This young lady nursed you back to health, Percy. Annabeth, my dear, why don't you go check on Percy's bunk? We'll be putting him in cabin eleven for now."

Annabeth said, "Sure, Chiron."

She looked to be around Percy's age, maybe a couple of inches taller, and a whole lot more athletic looking. With her deep tan and her curly blond hair, she was almost exactly what Pecy thought a stereotypical California girl would look like, except her eyes ruined the image. They were startling grey, like storm clouds; pretty, but intimidating, too, as if she were analysing the best way to take him down in a fight.

She looked at Percy a little uneasily- probably because of Willow's earlier outburst- before she glanced at he Minotaur horn in his hands, then back to him. Percy thought she'd make a comment about him being awesome, or something along those lines.

Instead she said, "You drool when you sleep." Then she sprinted off down the lawn, her blond hair flying behind her.

"So," Percy said, anxious to change the subject. "You, uh, work here, Mr. Brunner?"

"Not Mr. Brunner," the ex-Mr. Brunner said. "I'm afraid that was a pseudonym. You may call me Chiron."

"Okay." Totally confused, Percy looked at the director. "And Mr. D...does that stand for somethi-" Percy paused as his conversation with his mother came to his mind.

 _'Your father, Percy, is Hades. The Greek God of the Underworld.'_

Percy thought about it for a minute, before he realised the man in front of him was a god. He looked at him for a minute, running through the name of Greek Gods with names starting with 'D' before he found one linked one to alcohol. "You're Dionysus. The God of Wine."

Mr. D stopped shuffling the cards. He looked at Percy, and he looked mildly impressed. "Very quick to find out who I was, I see. But you will refer to me as Mr. D. Names have power, after all. You don't go around using them for no reason."

"Oh. Right. Sorry."

"I must say, Percy," Chiron-Brunner broke in, "I'm glad to see you alive. It's been a long time since I've made a house call to a potential camper. I'd hate to think I've wasted my time."

"House call?"

"My year at Yancy Academy, to instruct you. We have satyrs at most schools, of course, keeping a lookout. But Grover alerted me as soon as he met you. He sensed you were something special, so I decided to come upstate. I convinced the other Latin teacher to...ah, take a leave of absence."

Percy raked his brain trying to remember the beginning of the school year. It seemed like so long ago, but he did have a fuzzy memory of there being another Latin teacher his first week at Yancy. Then, without explanation, he had disappeared and Mr. Brunner had taken the class.

"You came to Yancy just to teach me?" Percy asked, a little surprised.

Chiron nodded. "Honestly, I wasn't sure about you at first. We contacted your mother, let her know we were keeping an eye on you in case you were ready for Camp Half-Blood. But you still had so much to learn. Nevertheless, you made it here alive, and that's always the first test."

"Grover," Mr. D said impatiently, "are you playing or not?"

"Yes, sir!" Grover trembled as he took the fourth chair, trembling with good reason. Mr. D- if Percy remembered right- was basically the lord of Satyrs.

"You do know how to play pinochle?" Mr. D eyed Percy suspiciously.

Percy shook his head, "I'm afraid not, sir. I've never really had too many friends since I've had to change schools so much, so I've never really learned how to play."

"Well," Mr. D said, "it is, along with gladiator fighting and Pac-Man, one of the greatest games ever invented by humans. I would expect all civilized young men to know the rules."

"I'm sure the boy can learn," Chiron said

"Please," Percy said, "I know what this place is but...What am I doing here? Mr. Brun-Chiron-why would you go to Yancy Academy just to teach me?"

Mr. D snorted. "I asked the same question."

The camp director dealt the cards. Grover flinched every time one landed in his pile.

Chiron smiled at Percy sympathetically, the way he used to in Latin class, as if to let him know that no matter what his average was, Percy was his star student. He expected him to have the right answer.

"Percy," he said. "Did your mother tell you nothing?"

"She..." Percy looked down. "She said she'd been selfish to keep me so close, and that as soon as our trip was done, she was bringing me here. She..." Percy's mouth grew dry. "She told me who my father was."

Chiron's eyes widened and he leaned forward eagerly. "And...?"

Percy looked at Chiron. "Forgive me, sir, but you've lost a lot of my trust by keeping so much from me. I am in agreement with Willow. My mother might still be alive if you'd told me this sooner. I'm not inclined to tell you any details anytime soon."

Chiron pulled back, looking a little hurt, but understanding, "I see..."

"Young man," Mr. D spoke up, "are you bidding or not?"

"May I ask how you bid, sir?" Percy said politely.

He explained, rather kindly, how you bid in pinochle, and so Percy did.

"I'm afraid there's too much to tell," Chiron said. "I'm afraid our usual orientation film won't be sufficient."

"Orientation film?" Percy asked.

"No," Chiron decided. "Well, Percy. You know your friend Grover is a satyr. You know"- he pointed to the horn in the shoe box- "that you have killed the Minotaur. No small feat, either, lad. And you also know the great powers that are at work in your life. You know that Gods- the forces you call Greek Gods- are very much alive."

Percy stared at the table. Mr. D yelled, "Oh, a royal marriage. Trick! Trick!" He cackled as he tallied up his points.

"Mr. D," Grover asked timidly, "if you're not going to eat it, could I have your Diet Coke can?"

"Eh? Oh, all right."

Grover bit a huge shard out of the empty aluminium can and chewed it mournfully.

Mr. D turned back to the card game. "I believe I win."

"Not quite, Mr. D," Chiron said. He set down a straight, tallied the points, and said, "The game goes to me."

"Um...all I have is this..." Percy showed them his hand.

Chiron's eyes widened, and Mr. D laughed loudly. "Haha! The boy has your number, Chiron!" He stood. "I believe I'll take a nap before the sing-along tonight. But first, Grover, we need to talk, again, about your less-than-perfect performance on this assignment."

Grover's face beaded with sweat. "Y-yes, sir."

Mr. D turned to Percy. "Cabin eleven, Mr. Jackson. And mind your manners."

He swept into the farmhouse, Grover following miserably.

"Will Grover be okay?" Percy asked Chiron, worry laced in his voice.

Chiron nodded, though he looked a bit troubled. "Old Dionysus isn't really mad. He just hates his job. He's been...ah, grounded, I guess you would say, and he can't stand waiting another century before he's allowed to go back to Olympus."

"Mount Olympus," Percy blinked. "You're telling me there really is a palace there?"

"Well now, there's Mount Olympus in Greece. And then there's the home of the gods, the convergence point of their powers, which did indeed used to be on Mount Olympus. It's still called Mount Olympus, out of respect to the old ways, but the palace moves, Percy, just as the gods do."

"You mean the Greek gods are here? Like ... in America?"

"Well, certainly. The gods move with the heart of the West."

"The what?"

"Come now, Percy. What you call 'Western civilisation.' Do you think it's just an abstract concept? No, it's a living force. A collective consciousness that has burned bright for thousands of years. The gods are part of it. You might even say they are the source of it, or at least, they are tied so tightly to it that they couldn't possibly fade, not unless all of Western civilisation were obliterated. The fire started in Greece. Then, as you well know-or as I hope you know, since you passed my course-the heart of the fire moved to Rome, and so did the gods. Oh, different names, perhaps-Jupiter for Zeus, Venus for Aphrodite, and so on-but the same forces, the same gods."

"So...why are they here now?"

"The gods simply moved, to Germany, to France, to Spain, for a while. Wherever the flame was brightest, the gods were there. They spent several centuries in England. All you need to do is look at the architecture. People do not forget the gods. Every place they've ruled, for the last three thousand years, you can see them in paintings, in statues, on the most important buildings. And yes, Percy, of course they are now in your United States. Look at your symbol, the eagle of Zeus. Look at the statue of Prometheus in Rockefeller Centre, the Greek facades of your government buildings in Washington. I defy you to find any American city where the Olympians are not prominently displayed in multiple places. Like it or not-and believe me, plenty of people weren't very fond of Rome, either. America is now the heart of the flame. It is the great power of the West. And so Olympus is here. And we are here."

Willow muttered something, and Percy was a little startled by it since he'd been so quiet, _'We are all connected, huh...?'_

Chiron smiled. He shifted his weight as if he were going to get up out of his wheelchair, but that should have been impossible. He was paralysed from the waist down.

"For now, we should get you a bunk in cabin eleven. There will be new friends to meet. And plenty of time for lessons tomorrow. Besides, there will be s'mores at the campfire tonight, and I simply adore chocolate."

And then he did rise from his wheelchair. But there was something odd about the way he did it. His blanket fell away from his legs, but the legs didn't move. His waist kept getting longer, rising above his belt. At first, Percy thought he was wearing very long, white velvet underwear, but as he kept rising out of the chair, taller than any man, he realised that the velvet underwear wasn't underwear; it was the front of an animal, muscle and sinew under coarse white fur. And the wheelchair wasn't a chair. It was some kind of container, an enormous box on wheels, and it must've been magic, because there's no way it could've held all of him. A leg came out, long and knobby-kneed, with a huge polished hoof. Then another front leg, then hindquarters, and then the box was empty, nothing but a metal shell with a couple of fake human legs attached.

Percy stared at the horse who had just sprung from the wheelchair: a huge white stallion. But where its neck should be was the upper body of my Latin teacher, smoothly grafted to the horse's trunk.

"What a relief," the centaur said. "I'd been cooped up in there so long, my fetlocks had fallen asleep. Now, come, Percy Jackson. Let's meet the other campers."

Percy nodded dumbly as they started walking away from the house, when Percy caught the sight of someone and froze. _'No way...'_ he thought, but spoke. "Nancy?"

Hearing her voice, Nancy Bobofit turned, looking for the person who spoke her name, before her eyes lit up. "Percy!" she squealed in happiness. She ran towards him and tackled him to the ground in a hug, pressing a firm kiss on his lips.

Chiron looked both amused and surprised at what was happening.

Percy didn't know how he should react, so he just kept his eyes wide and in shock. Willow was equally as stunned, as both halves of Percy Jackson just lay there, allowing her to kiss him like there was no tomorrow.

Finally- after what felt like a year- Nancy broke the kiss and smiled down at him, blushing. "I'm so happy to see you!"

Still in shock, Percy gave an intelligent response, "Uh-huh."


	6. Chapter 6: I'll Crush You!

**Summary: At the tender age of 6, Percy Jackson loses his sanity, creating an alter ego that kills his step-father after watching him beat his mother in a drunken state: Willow. Unable to remember what he did, Sally tells Percy that Gabe decided to leave them and buries him somewhere. 6 years later, when Mrs. Dodds attacks Percy, Willow awakens once more, with a strange power...**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson & The Olympians. Rated M for swearing and future lemons**

 **AN: I have officially decided the second and third girls to join the harem. Here are the current girls in the harem:**

 **Nancy. Thalia.**

 **Now I'm sure EVERYONE saw Thalia coming, but come on...it's a solid pairing.**

* * *

 **Chapter 6: I'll Crush You!**

After Chiron pried Nancy off of Percy, and she insisted on joining the two of them, they had a nice tour. Although Percy was careful not to walk behind Chiron. He'd done pooper-scooper patrol in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade a few times, and, though he was sorry, he would not trust Chiron's back end the way he trusted the front.

They passed the volleyball pit. Several of the campers nudged each other. One pointed to the Minotaur horn Percy was carrying. Another said, "That's him."

Percy sighed, _'Wonderful...'_ he thought. _'Outside for a few minutes, and I'm already getting recognised.'_

 _'Could be worse...'_ Willow told Percy. _'We could be back at Yancy Academy.'_

 _'That's a ghastly though,'_ Percy gagged.

Most of the campers were older than Percy. Their satyr friends were bigger than Grover, all of them trotting around in orange CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirts, with nothing else to cover their bare shaggy hindquarters. Percy wasn't normally shy, but the way they stared at him made him feel uncomfortable. He felt like they were expecting him to do a flip or something.

 _'Well I mean...we did hang in the air for awhile. We could probably do a few flips in that time.'_

 _'First, no,'_ Percy told him. _'Second, we have no idea how we did that in the first place. And third...you really want to do a flip to entertain them?'_

 _'...Well played,'_ Willow admitted.

Percy looked back at the farmhouse. It was a lot bigger than he'd realised- four stories tall, sky blue with white trim, like an upscale seaside resort. He was checking out the brass eagle weather vane on top when something caught his eye, a shadow in the uppermost window of the attic gable. Something had moved the curtain, just for a second, and Percy got the distinct impression he was being watched.

"What's up there?" He asked Chiron.

He looked where he was pointing, and his smile faded. "Just the attic."

Nancy looked as well, and shook her head, unwilling to talk about the attic.

Percy pressed on however, "Somebody lives there?"

"No," Chiron said with finality. "Not a single living thing."

 _'Living?'_ Willow mumbled, which Percy head. _'Then...why not something dead?'_

Percy paled a little at that thought. Something had definitely moved the curtain...Percy just prayed it wasn't watching him with bad intentions.

"Come along, Percy," Chiron said, his lighthearted tone now a little forced. "Lots to see."

"Yeah Percy!" Nancy smiled, only slightly forced. "Let's have a look at the strawberry fields!"

They walked through the strawberry fields, where campers were picking bushels of berries while a satyr played a tune on a reed pipe.

Chiron told Percy the camp grew a nice crop for export to New York restaurants and Mount Olympus. "It pays our expenses," he explained. "And the strawberries take almost no effort."

He said Mr. D had this effect on fruit-bearing plants: they just went crazy when he was around. It worked best with wine grapes, but Mr. D was restricted from growing those, so they grew strawberries instead.

He watched the satyr playing his pipe. His music was causing lines of bugs to leave the strawberry patch in every direction, like refugees fleeing a fire. Percy vaguely wondered if Grover could work that kind of magic with music. He wondered if he was still inside the farmhouse, getting chewed out by Mr. D.

"Grover won't get in too much trouble, will he?" Percy asked Chiron. "I mean...he was a good protector. Really."

Nancy sighed a little. She looked at the big house, her eyes a little mournful. "Grover has big dreams, Percy," Nancy told him, instead of Chiron. He just stayed quiet and let her talk. "Perhaps bigger than he should have. To reach his goal, he's gotta show great courage by succeeding as a keeper, which means finding a new camper and bringing him or her safely to Half-Blood Hill."

"But he did that!"

"I might agree with you," Chiron said. "But it is not my place to judge. Dionysus and the Council of Cloven Elders must decide. I'm afraid they might not see this assignment as a success. After all, Grover lost you in New York. Then there's the unfortunate...ah...fate of your mother. And the fact that Grover was unconscious when you dragged him over the property line. The council might question whether this shows any courage on Grover's part."

"Can we not beat around the bush?" Percy said, annoyed. "Don't dodge around my mother's fate to make it seem unfortunate, no matter if it was. She sacrificed herself for me. She died a hero! Don't belittle her sacrifice by phrasing it like that!"

Nancy looked at Percy surprised, and Chiron fell into silence. It was only a few minutes before Chiron spoke again, "Forgive me, Percy, I did not mean to make you angry."

Percy just grumbled, before he glanced at Chiron, focusing back on the last subject. "Grover, he'll get a second chance, won't he?"

Chiron winced. "I'm afraid that was Grover's second chance, Percy. The council was not anxious to give him another, either, after what happened the first time, five years ago. Olympus knows, I advised him to wait longer before trying again. He's still so small for his age..."

"How old is he?"

"Oh, twenty-eight."

"What! And he's in sixth grade?"

"Satyrs mature half as fast as humans, Percy. Grover has been the equivalent of a middle school student for the past six years."

Percy winced. Hard. Going through middle school once was going to be enough for Percy. But going through it for 6 years? Percy's respect for Grover grew a notch. "That's...wow that sucks..."

"Quite," Chiron agreed. "At any rate, Grover is a late bloomer, even by satyr standards, and not yet very accomplished at woodland magic. Alas, he was anxious to pursue his dream. Perhaps now he will find some other career..."

"That's not fair," Percy said. "What happened the first time? Was it really so bad?"

Chiron looked away quickly. "Let's move along, shall we?"

 _'I happened,'_ the soft feminine voice Percy heard during the Minotaur attack said to him.

His eyes widened and he turned, looking for it, before his eyes settled on the huge pine tree. _'Did you just...?'_

 _'I heard it too,'_ Willow told him. _'There is...something...no...someONE in that tree...'_

"Percy?" Nancy's voice snapped him out of it. He looked towards her, seeing her concerned face.

His gaze fell on the tree again, before he tore it away forcefully. "Nothing," he muttered. "Just thought I heard something." Suddenly, a spark lit within Percy's mind. A crazy idea, but one he could work with... "Chiron," he said. "Since the gods and Mount Olympus are real...that means the Underworld is too, right?"

Chiron's expression darkened. "Yes, child." He paused, as if choosing his words carefully. "There is a place where spirits go after death. But for now...until we know more...I would urge you to put that out of your mind."

"What do you mean, 'until we know more'?"

"Come, Percy. Let's see the woods."

As they got closer, Percy realised how huge the forest was. It took up at least a quarter of the valley, with trees so tall and thick, you could imagine nobody had been in there since the Native Americans.

Chiron said, "The woods are stocked, if you care to try your luck, but go armed."

"Stocked with what?" Percy asked. "Armed with what?"

"You'll see. Capture the flag is Friday night. Do you have your own sword and shield?"

"I have a sword and spear," he told Chiron. "Does that count?"

Nancy looked at Percy in surprise, but didn't say anything on the matter, and so the tour continued. They saw the archery range, the canoeing lake, the stables (which Chiron didn't seem to like very much), the javelin range, the sing-along amphitheatre, and the arena where Chiron said they held sword and spear fights.

"Sword and spear fights?" he asked.

"Cabin challenges and all that," he explained. "Not lethal. Usually. Oh, yes, and there's the mess hall."

Chiron pointed to an outdoor pavilion framed in white Grecian columns on a hill overlooking the sea. There were a dozen stone picnic tables. No roof. No walls.

"What do you do when it rains?" he asked.

Chiron looked at me as if he'd gone a little weird. "We still have to eat, don't we?"

Once again, Percy got annoyed. Did Chiron REALLY expect him to understand? "Stop looking at me like I'm stupid," he snapped. "I was introduced to this not long ago, you expect me to NOT be curious about why you aren't bothered by the rain when it's time to eat?!"

Percy honestly had no clue where this aggression was coming from, but it felt _good_ to use it.

Chiron winced again, "Forgive me, Percy, it is easy to forget."

Nancy looked at Percy in amusement, as if his anger was funny to her, but not in a bad way. She almost seemed...pleased by it.

Finally, he showed Percy the cabins. There were twelve of them, nestled in the woods by the lake. They were arranged in a U, with two at the base and five in a row on either side. And they were without doubt the most bizarre collection of buildings Percy had ever seen.

Except for the fact that each had a large brass number above the door (odds on the left side, evens on the right), they looked absolutely nothing alike. Number nine had smokestacks, like a tiny factory. Number four had tomato vines on the walls and a roof made out of real grass. Seven seemed to be made of solid gold, which gleamed so much in the sunlight it was almost impossible to look at. They all faced a commons area about the size of a soccer field, dot-ted with Greek statues, fountains, flower beds, and a couple of basketball hoops (which were more Percy's speed).

In the center of the field was a huge stone-lined firepit. Even though it was a warm afternoon, the hearth smouldered. A girl about nine years old was tending the flames, poking the coals with a stick.

Percy stared at the girl for a minute. She looked at him and he suddenly paled as he felt a heavy pressure fall over him. _'Wh-what is this?'_

 _'That girl...'_ Willow breathed out. _'She...isn't human!'_

Percy could only agree to this, but he never broke eye contact with the girl, instead his eyes set in hard determination. The girl blinked before giggling and going back to poking the coals. Percy finally tore his gaze from her and focused on the cabins.

The pair of cabins at the head of the field, numbers one and two, looked like his-and-hers mausoleums, big white marble boxes with heavy columns in front. Cabin one was the biggest and bulkiest of the twelve. Its polished bronze doors shimmered like a hologram, so that from different angles lightning bolts seemed to streak across them. Cabin two was more graceful somehow, with slimmer columns garlanded with pomegranates and flowers. The walls were carved with images of peacocks.

"Zeus and Hera?" Percy ventured a guess.

"Correct," Chiron said.

"Their cabins look empty."

"Several of the cabins are. That's true. No one ever stays in one or two."

 _'Okay...'_ Percy thought. _'So each Cabin represents a different god...twelve cabins for the twelve Olympians. But...why are some of them empty?'_

 _'I imagine we'll find out with time,'_ Willow grunted.

Percy stopped in front of the cabin on the left, cabin three.

It wasn't high and mighty like cabin one, but long and low and solid. The outer walls were of rough gray stone studded with pieces of seashell and coral, as if the slabs had been hewn straight from the bottom of the ocean floor. The cabin almost seemed to call out to him for some reason, but something kept Percy away. He took a step away from it. This cabin...it felt familiar but...he wanted to stay as far from it as possible.

Most of the other cabins were crowded with campers.

Number five was bright red- a real nasty paint job, as if the colour had been splashed on with buckets and fists. The roof was lined with barbed wire. A stuffed wild boar's head hung over the doorway, and its eyes seemed to follow Percy. Inside, he could see a bunch of mean looking kids, both girls and boys, arm wrestling and arguing with each other while rock music blared. The loudest was a girl maybe thirteen or fourteen. She wore a size XXXL CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirt under a camouflage jacket. She zeroed in on Percy and gave him an evil sneer. She sort of reminded him of Nancy, though the camper girl was much bigger and tougher looking, and her hair was long and stringy, and brown instead of red.

Oh, and she looked like kind of a bitch, where as Nancy was a lot nicer for...some reason.

"You'll wanna keep away from five," Nancy whispered to Percy softly, which was a little surprising since she'd been rather quiet for awhile. "It's full of a bunch of bullies."

Percy nodded, and they kept walking, while he tried to stay clear of Chiron's hooves. "We haven't seen any other centaurs," he observed.

"No," said Chiron sadly. "My kinsmen are a wild and barbaric folk, I'm afraid. You might encounter them in the wilderness, or at major sporting events. But you won't see any here."

"You said your name was Chiron. Are you really..."

He smiled down at Percy. "The Chiron from the stories? Trainer of Hercules and all that? Yes, Percy, I am."

"But, shouldn't you be dead?" Percy immediately winced at how rude his questioned sounded.

Chiron paused, as if the question intrigued him. "I honestly don't know about should be. The truth is, I can't be dead. You see, eons ago the gods granted my wish. I could continue the work I loved. I could be a teacher of heroes as long as humanity needed me. I gained much from that wish...and I gave up much. But I'm still here, so I can only assume I'm still needed."

Percy thought about being a teacher for three thousand years. He felt like gagging at the thought. _'If I'm ever offered immortality,'_ Percy said to Willow, _'Then tell me to wish for something more worthwhile.'_

 _'Alright,'_ Willow shrugged. Not like they'd ever get offered immortality.

"Doesn't it ever get boring?" Percy asked him.

"No, no," Chiron said. "Horribly depressing, at times, but never boring."

"Why depressing?"

Chiron seemed to turn hard of hearing again. "Oh, look," he said. "Annabeth is waiting for us."

 _'Fucking asshole...'_ Willow muttered. He really didn't like the centaur. Probably never would.

* * *

The blond girl Percy met at the Big House was reading a book in front of the last cabin on the left, number eleven.

When they reached her, she looked Percy over critically, like she was still thinking about how much he drooled.

 _'Doesn't the bitch know it's rude to stare?'_ Willow grumbled in annoyance.

Percy tried to see what she was reading, but he couldn't make out the title. At first, he thought his dyslexia was acting up. Then he realised the title wasn't even English. The letters looked Greek to him. There were pictures of temples and statues and different kinds of columns, like those in an architecture book.

"Annabeth," Chiron said, "I have masters' archery class at noon. Would you take Percy from here?"

"Yes, sir," Annabeth threw a glare at Nancy. "But why is _she_ here?"

Nancy rolled her eyes, "I can't walk with a friend bird face?"

Annabeth growled, "Don't push me you two bit bitch!"

"You wanna throw your owl droppings at me?" Nancy snapped at her.

"Cabin eleven," Chiron told Percy, gesturing toward the doorway and ignoring the two girls. "Make yourself at home."

Out of all the cabins, eleven looked the most like a regular old summer camp cabin, with the emphasis on old. The threshold was worn down, the brown paint peeling. Over the doorway was one of those doctor's symbols, a winged pole with two snakes wrapped around it. A caduceus.

Inside, it was packed with people, both boys and girls, way more than the number of bunk beds. Sleeping bags were spread all over on the floor. It looked like a gym where the Red Cross had set up an evacuation center.

Chiron didn't go in. The door was too low for him. But when the campers saw him they all stood and bowed respectfully.

"Well, then," Chiron said. "Good luck, Percy. I'll see you at dinner."

He galloped away toward the archery range.

Percy stood in the doorway, looking at the kids. They weren't bowing anymore. They were staring at him, sizing him up. Percy knew this routine. He'd gone through it at enough schools.

"Well?" Annabeth prompted, turning away from Nancy. "Go on."

 _'If you trip, I will kill us,'_ Willow warned Percy darkly.

He looked at Annabeth with a raised eyebrow. "And what exactly do you _expect_ me to do?" he asked her. "I literally woke up a few hours ago, and learned about this...I don't even know how long I've been out."

Annabeth just rolled her eyes and announced, "Percy Jackson, meet cabin eleven."

"Regular or undetermined?" somebody asked.

"Considering I JUST got here," Percy spoke up before Annabeth could open her mouth. "I'm going to make a WILD guess and say undetermined." Percy was starting to wonder where his attitude was coming from. Usually he was a lot calmer, like the sea on a sunny day. Right now, he felt like the raging tide in a storm.

Everybody groaned.

A guy who was a little older than the rest came forward. "Now, now, campers. That's what we're here for. Welcome, Percy. You can have that spot on the floor, right over there."

The guy was about nineteen, and he looked pretty cool. He was tall and muscular, with short-cropped sandy hair and a friendly smile. He wore an orange tank top, cutoffs, sandals, and a leather necklace with five different coloured clay beads. The only thing unsettling about his appearance was a thick white scar that ran from just beneath his right eye to his jaw, like an old knife slash.

"That's Luke," Nancy told Percy as Annabeth stared at Luke. "He's the counsellor for cabin eleven, meaning he is your counsellor, as well as mine...well, at least for now."

"For now?" Percy asked.

"You're undetermined," Luke explained patiently. "They don't know what cabin to put you in, so you're here. Cabin eleven takes all newcomers, all visitors. Naturally, we would. Hermes, our patron, is the god of travellers."

Percy looked at the tiny section of floor they'd given me. He had nothing to put there to mark it as his own, no luggage, no clothes, no sleeping bag. Just the Minotaur's horn. He thought about setting that down, but then Percy remembered that Hermes was also the god of thieves.

he looked around at the campers' faces, some sullen and suspicious, some grinning stupidly, some eyeing him as if they were waiting for a chance to pick his pockets.

 _'They are making me uncomfortable...'_ Percy thought, shifting nervously.

 _'Gimme control for a sec,'_ Willow told Percy, and the sane half could _hear_ the grin.

Percy complied, and everyone felt the temperature drop a few degrees. Green faded into amber. Willow looked at the entire cabin without a trace of emotion in his eyes. _"Weren't you ever told it's rude to stare?"_ he asked them, his ominous and dark tone in full effect. A lot of the cabin shivered and looked away from him.

Luke, Nancy, and Annabeth stared at Willow with wide eyes. He just smirked, _"It is so fun to scare you people...ah, I believe I should introduce myself,"_ he bowed. _"The name is Willow. I am Percy's...well, I'd tell you the truth, but you wouldn't believe me."_

"Um..." Nancy whispered to Luke. "I haven't been here all that long...is this normal?"

"Not at all," Luke muttered back to her, equally as surprised.

 _"You know I_ can _hear you,"_ Willow smirked at them. _"Oh well...I suppose I've had my fun."_

Percy's green eyes returned. "Sorry," he told them as the temperature returned to normal, "but everyone was staring at me, and it was super uncomfortable, know what I mean?"

"Come on," Annabeth told Percy, having recovered. "I'll show you the volleyball court."

"I've already seen it."

"Come on." She grabbed his wrist, and Percy immediately smacked her hand away. She looked at him in shock.

"Don't. Touch me." He growled at her angrily. He left the cabin, Nancy following behind him, and silence trailing behind them.

When they were a few feet away, Annabeth said, "Jackson, you have to do better than that."

"What?"

She rolled her eyes and mumbled under her breath, "I can't believe I thought you were the one."

"What's your problem?" Percy was already angry, and Annabeth was only making it worse. "All I know is, I kill some bull guy-"

"Don't talk like that!" Annabeth told him. "You know how many kids at this camp wish they'd had your chance?"

"To get killed?"

"To fight the Minotaur! What do you think we train for?"

Percy's eyes narrowed at her, "Oh I'm _so_ sorry," he snapped at her. "I didn't realise you all trained to see your loving parent get killed in front of you!"

Annabeth flinched. She appeared to have forgotten that little detail about what happened.

"Woah, woah, woah," Nancy made the time out symbol before looking at Percy. "I heard about the Minotaur, but explain to me about your mother."

Gritting his teeth at the memory, Percy explained about what he remembered, leaving out the part about the voices he'd heard. He didn't know why, but he felt like those voices shouldn't be mentioned. He also left out about what Gae Bolg's name was. He didn't feel they'd be too keen to hear the name of a cursed spear.

"Oh..." Nancy hugged Percy, much to his surprise. "I'm so sorry..."

Percy felt rather awkward, but he pat her on the back. "It's fine," he told her. "I'll live...life will be a hell of a lot shittier, but I'll live." Percy then reluctantly turned to Annabeth. "So, why do I have to stay in cabin eleven exactly?"

"You don't just choose a cabin, Percy. It depends on who your parents are. Or...your parent." She looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to get it.

Percy's eyes narrowed, "Yeah, I know my father is a Greek God you idiot." Nancy giggled, and Annabeth turned red, though Percy didn't really care. "I also know who he is."

"You do?" Annabeth looked at him in surprise, before leaning towards him eagerly. "And he is...?"

"None of your fucking business," he snapped at her.

Annabeth blinked in surprise, and was about to say something to him- probably a comment about his shitty attitude- when a husky voice yelled, "Well! A newbie!"

Percy looked over. The big girl from the ugly red cabin was sauntering toward them. She had three other girls behind her, all big and ugly and mean looking like her, all wearing camo jackets.

"Clarisse," Annabeth sighed. "Why don't you go polish your spear or something?"

"Sure, Miss Princess," the big girl said. "So I can run you through with it Friday night."

''Erre es korakas!" Annabeth said, which Percy somehow understood was Greek for 'Go to the crows!' though he had a feeling it was a worse curse than it sounded. "You don't stand a chance."

"We'll pulverize you," Clarisse said, but her eye twitched. Perhaps she wasn't sure she could follow through on the threat. She turned toward Percy. "Who's this little runt?"

Nancy let go of Percy, as Annabeth spoke up again. "Percy Jackson, meet Clarisse, Daughter of Ares."

"I can introduce my self cock goblin," Percy snapped at her, making her face go red, and earning snickers from the rest of the girls. He turned his gaze towards Clarisse. "Ares...the war god?"

Clarisse sneered. "You got a problem with that?"

"No," Percy said, then mumbled. "It explains the bad smell."

Clarisse growled. "We got an initiation ceremony for newbies, Prissy."

"Percy."

"Whatever. Come on, I'll show you."

"Clarisse-" Annabeth tried to say.

"Stay out of it, wise girl."

Annabeth looked pained, but she did stay out of it, and Percy didn't really want her help. He was the new kid. He had to earn my own rep.

Clarisse reached out to him, but Percy grabbed her wrist, dropping the Minotaur horn without a care in the world. He wasn't in the mood for this crap. He'd lost his mother, was being forced to stay at this shitty camp, and now some bitch was trying to make him miserable. "You get one warning," he told her, a storm in his green eyes. "Try to touch me again...and I'll crush you!" he shoved her away.

She didn't appreciate that. Clarisse rushed at Percy, aiming to hit him in the face.

Unfortunately, she'd never be able to. Percy's anger had been increasing more and more since that morning, and now it was all coming out at once. The sea roared as his ears as a voice screamed at him, _'DESTROY HER!'_

Sea green turned to venom green. Percy dodged out of the way of her punch before crouching down and throwing a punch to her stomach as he rotated his body. His fist slammed into her gut with enough force to make the girl cough up blood. He didn't stop there. He swept his legs out from under her, and raised his fist. Clarisse began to fall, and Percy's fist followed her. Just as Clarisse hit the ground, Percy's fist was buried in her gut again.

Clarisse's eyes bulged as blood came out of her mouth. Percy didn't know how he was doing this, but he didn't care. All that mattered was he _was_ doing it. His right eye kept focused on Clarisse, while his left eye glanced up. Her two friends were starting to come towards him. His fists turned flat and he put both palms on Clarisse's stomach, before lifting into the air and spinning slightly, knocking both girls off of their feet, before he pushed off Clarisse, his feet facing towards the girls, and nailing them both in the stomach. They coughed and got sent back.

With those two out of the way, Percy put his knee on Clarisse's weirdly soft chest, and glared down at her with cold, venom green eyes. "Gonna try that again, turtle bitch?"

The daughter of Ares could only look up at Percy, a barrage of emotions in her eyes. Shock, fear, admiration, respect, and...lust? "You know...you aren't too bad, Prissy."

"It's Percy," he snapped at her.

She just grinned, "Mind letting me up? We won't put you through initiation."

Percy eyed her for a few seconds. Venom turned back to sea. He stood up and backed away, picking up the Minotaur horn. Clarisse stood and dusted herself off, before wiping the blood off of her chin. "See ya around, Percy," she turned and walked to her friends. They spoke for a minute, before all three left.

 _'Good job,'_ Willow told him. _'I was ready to step in, but you didn't need me. That's a side of you I've never imagined existed.'_

 _'The last few days have pushed me past my breaking point,'_ Percy told Willow. The crazy half of Percy Jackson was in agreement on that.

He turned towards Annabeth and Nancy. Annabeth looked shocked. Nancy looked stunned, but was grinning.

"That was awesome!" she told Percy. "How come you never did stuff like that at Yancy?"

Percy just shrugged, and his gaze focused on Annabeth, who was looking at him with her calculating eyes. "What?" he grumbled. "What are you thinking."

"I'm thinking," she said, "that I want you on my team for capture the flag."

 _'Oh god have mercy on us!'_ Willow cried.

 _'I didn't know mercy being applied on us existed...'_ Percy said dully.

Willow was quiet for a second, _'You make a good point...oh god, you heartless fuck bag!'_


End file.
